Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Christchurch (NZ) Team
• Page 32

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Weekly outreaches:
Tue 3:00pm - 5:00pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St; Led by Roger)
Thu 3:00pm - 5:00pm - Riccarton (corner of Riccarton Rd and Rotherham St)
Fri 1:30pm - 3:30pm - City (Bridge of Remembrance)
Sat 11:30am - 1:30pm - 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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It was so good to be back to my regular routine after a busy few months that included the NZ Summer Mission and time in Myanmar.  I’ve had a wonderful week of rest and am raring to go again!

On Tuesday I was in Riccarton in the late afternoon, and on Wednesday I was in Cathedral Square / Cashel Mall in the early afternoon.  Riccarton seemed to have less people around - yet I had an eventful outreach that went thirty minutes over.  The city seemed busy when I turned up, but it ended up being a quieter outreach than usual.  It’s funny how that happens.

Turning up in my usual spot in Riccarton (cnr. Riccarton and Rotherham, outside the SBS Bank), I set up my flip chart across from a lady sitting in the seats enjoying her break.  She was curious as to what it was all about, and so I was straight into my first conversation!  Unfortunately she was nearing the end of her break and she had to go before I could really share any of the law and the gospel - but we had a lovely chat touching on the deep questions of life.  She took a gospel tract as she left.

Unfortunately, many of my interactions of the day ended up being cut short before I could really share the gospel - but most often, tracts would be taken.  God knows.  Praying that they will have other opportunities to hear the gospel… maybe from you? :)

But I did get to share the gospel a few times!  Like when a sailor from Croatia approached me for directions to a store.  After helping him, I was able to politely move the conversation to deeper things.  But I did have to go faster than I like as I could tell he needed to get moving.  I shared the bad news, and then said there was good news, did he want to hear it?  He did, which encouraged me, I gladly shared it.  I gave him two tracts, one for him, and one for his captain! :)

Next a guy came along who liked to talk about deep subjects - the conversation was going nicely till his girlfriend turned up - who was nice, but didn’t want to talk about deep subjects!  He was sad, and as he was leaving he said if he saw me again he would come and talk further… which isn't as doubtful as it seems, as I had a number of follow ups later...

Next up an Indian guy stopped, he seemed very astute and I could tell this was going to be a great conversation… but sadly, he too needed to move on, he had a bank appointment.  But he said he would come back afterwards…

I had two guys stop, one believed in heaven, the other didn’t believe anything happened after death.  I started explaining how we can know there must be an afterlife, and the conversation was heating up when two young high school students walked past, stopped, started listening, and then came back to join in the conversation.  I wasn’t able to hold the attention of the original two guys, but the conversation with the two high school students was fantastic!  In fact, one of them had partly done the flip chart before, but apparently it was interrupted by an angry bald man?  They heard the way to heaven, and were able to clearly articulate it back to me with the first checking question - encouraging!  I didn’t hold them for much longer as they also needed to go.

Another high school student stopped and heard the gospel, and while this was happening, the Indian guy who had to go to the bank came back!  He sat down and waited for me to finish with the high school student.

Once I had done that, I went and sat down with him and we had a long gospel chat (in spite of the rain that had started).  He was sharp and understood the analogies quickly - checking questions confirming.  I was feeling encouraged that this man may actually want to trust in Christ!  He even articulated so.  So I moved to the final analogy: the back pack - which explains the cost of following Christ.  He got it straight away, and his response made me sad, but also laugh… he wanted to put on the parachute (trust that Jesus had paid his fine), and then put the back pack on his front (the things he knew he would have to give up if he did so).  It’s not the first time I’ve had someone say this to me.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are many people actually trying to do that.  They understand the gospel, they want heaven and all its benefits, but they want their sin too.  They are trying to hold on to both - but it won’t work.  With the gift of faith, comes the gift of repentance.  Which will lead us to wanting to obey - no matter the cost.

I tried to work with the Indian guy to get him to realise the folly of what he was thinking.  But I watched him harden and start bringing up excuses.  I could only shake his hand and let him go.  And yet, while he has breath, there is hope.  He understood the gospel.  May the Spirit of God use that to bring a conviction of sin and change his heart.  May he have further opportunities to interact with Christians ready to share the gospel with him again.  Are you ready?

Wednesday's outreach ended not so well.  A scary guy dressed in black and wearing dark glasses took offense at some of the bad people on the front page of my flip chart.  He wasn’t all there and I just wanted him to leave.  I had flashbacks to when I had to call the police recently.  Remembering Proverbs 9:7 I didn’t intellectually engage him...  And, thankfully he, moved on!  It was the end of the outreach, and so I packed up and headed to my car.  I noticed that he had started talking to the two JWs just down a little further.  I gave one of the JWs a knowing look, and she acknowledged it.  I’m glad she wasn't on her own.

And I’m glad God is always with us (Matthew 28:20b).  Thank you for praying for the Christchurch (NZ) Operation 513 team!  Join us! :)

 

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Sunday’s outreach to Cashel Mall was also the second “Outreach Sunday” for Redemption Church.  Over half of the church membership made it to this outreach - including all the Elders and Deacons.  It was so wonderful approaching people who had already been approached!  Because of this, the gospel was being shared with many.  What joy to the heart of an evangelist!

Some were boldly sharing for the first time.  Others were gaining confidence, bubbling about the opportunities they had, and wanting to know when the next outreach would be.

The two hours went really fast for me.  There were periods where I wasn’t in a gospel conversation - because there were so many evangelists out!  But that time was used in encouraging those around me.

Andy excitedly told me about the conversation he had with two ladies.  “It was better than any of the conversations in Myanmar” - and that is saying a lot!

I had two stand out conversations.  The first was with a young Christian who said he had to be a good person to go to heaven.  So I asked if he would like to try the good person test - he was keen.

Eventually he came to realise that his good works would not save him, so I challenged him on what God had done so we could be saved.  He then realised the answer was not good works, but Jesus.

In the checking questions, he got the “crossing the road” one wrong - very concerning, so I went back to explain the gospel again, and to clarify that if we are trusting the sacrifice of Jesus to pay the fine for our sins - that includes our future sins as well.  I then balanced that with the “fireman” question, explaining that there would be repentance that came with faith, and that would lead to good works - but the good works don’t save us.

I’m not sure how impacted he was by the conversation, but he took a tract, and I encouraged him to talk to his parents and pastor about this - it’s so important.

My second conversation is pictured, it was with two perceptive young people.  The lady made a profound statement: “how can God deal with bad stuff and still let people into heaven” (or something like that) - I said, that is a wonderful question, can I explain?  They were keen to talk.

But they struggled with the idea that they, themselves, were bad people, I had to spend some time labouring with them in that.

Eventually the lady received a phone call and had to go.  But they wanted to hear the good news, so allowed me some time to share - which I did.  They took tracts.

So, a very encouraging afternoon of outreach.  Thanks to all those from Redemption Church that joined us!  Keep it up!  Looking forward to having you with us again next month. :)

And to the other churches in Christchurch, a challenge to set up your own monthly outreach.  Operation 513 would love to help you with this - feel free to get in touch to discuss.
 

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After two weeks in Myanmar (you can read the reports here) I was back in NZ in time to make it to the Kaikoura A&P Show.

A team of five.  Two from Blenheim, one from Nelson, one from North Canterbury, and myself from Christchurch.

I missed this outreach last year, so it was good to be back!  It was great to be able to catch up with the other evangelists from up north, and discuss methods with them.

My first conversation of the day was with three teens.  My “do you ever think about what happens after you die?” line attracted their attention, and a conversation got started.  But two of the three of them quickly became resistant.  They didn’t want to stay to hear the gospel, and they didn’t take tracts - except the one who wasn't resistant - I hope he reads it!

The second conversation started really well.  The young university student was curious and engaged, and so I took the time he needed to work through the logic of the presentation.  He was following along, and I was just moving into sharing the gospel, when his brother stormed past and said “let’s go”.  His brother threw away a gospel booklet as he went - he had obviously been talking to one of the other team members.  The guy I was talking to complied and that was the end of that.  But, he did take a tract as he left, again - I hope he reads it!

Thankfully, I was able to have some conversations where I was actually able to share the gospel!

One was with a lady who was keen to know what the good person test was all about - when I said we were Christians and wanted to share good news, she was happy to try it out.  But after I made it through the law, time suddenly became short.  She wanted to hear the good news, but wanted me to hurry up. :(  She stayed to hear the good news and moved along.  But sadly she didn’t seem interested.  But God knows.

The best conversation came at the end of the outreach.  It was with four young adults.  Two were openish and keen to chat, One was resistant but keen to chat, and the last wasn’t keen at all - but ironically piped up at the end to express her disapproval of anyone who disapproves of her ways!

But I was able to explain the law and the gospel, and they all seemed to grasp it very quickly, clearly articulating the way to heaven in the checking questions.  The two openish ones took tracts, the other two refused.

After packing up, a song, and prayer, the team split to head back across the country to their homes.  Thanks to Scott Cameron from Blenheim for organising this one!

Such an interesting contrast to the many conversations I've been having with open hearted people in Myanmar.  Oh God, have mercy on our land!
 

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I ran out of time in my last report to write about Friday’s outreach, so this report will cover that, plus Saturday and Sunday.

Friday started with the gospel + abortion outreach, which was relatively quiet.

Things became eventful with the open air preaching in Cathedral Square at lunch time.  I went first.  I looked at the spot where Kelven (the Busker who died recently) and I couldn’t help feeling grieved and ended up mentioning him.  This caused one of the stall holders to come over to talk to me about him.  Was Kelven in hell?  I answered his question (and I was able to follow up with him afterwards).

Steve the Atheist turned up near the end and started to goad me.  He told me to hurry up and finish, so I decided to continue longer.  When I finally finished.  There were a few people standing around.  Two German tourists came over and wanted to understand what was going on, and why that man was being so mean.  Roger was able to share the gospel with them!  Steve aids the gospel.  He is a blessing from God!

One of the wizards ended up getting into a semi public debate with Andy over how we know things to be true.  The conversation simmered into a long private chat between them (pictured).

Marty preached as well.

The team then moved to Cashel Mall.  Roger was popular.  Note the picture where Roger is talking with one guy, and another guy stops to look at the flip chart - Roger was able to share the gospel with him.

Andy and I came back into the city in the evening for another outreach.  Right from the start, I walked into a guy who recognised me, and knew my name.  Apparently I had talked to him a few months earlier.  He had obviously been positively impacted, and said he was keen to come along to church.

Later, Andy and I were walking down Oxford Terrace.  There were three guys sitting down who we could potentially approach.  The usual doubt came over us - they will probably reject us.  But we discussed it - that is the worst that can happen, so we decided to approach them!  To my pleasant surprise, they were open to a gospel conversation.  They were tourists from the UK.  They came to an understanding of the gospel, and were challenged to respond.

Soon after, we were in the bus exchange, and I tried approaching two guys - they weren’t interested - we were rejected.  Oh well, we politely moved on.  But Andy was able to start a conversation with someone else nearby.

I was back in the city on Saturday.  The weather wasn’t the best, and it was quite a slow outreach.  But I had a great follow up with a young man who we have been talking to, on and off, for quite a long time now.  He seems to be opening up, I’m adding him to my prayer list.

I also had a fantastic gospel conversation with a young man from Holland.

But the highlight was the outreach on Sunday.  Nice weather, and lots of people in Cashel Mall.  A team of seven.  I set up my flip chart, and was just taking a drink of water when four girls walked past and wanted to try the good person test! (pictured)  It was a non stop outreach from there.

Two of the girls got cold feet once they understood where it was going, but the other two were really interested.  The first two were constantly disrupting the conversation, so I was glad when they left so I could share the gospel with the other two.

Right at the end of the conversation, Steve the Atheist turned up to disrupt things.  I’m glad they had already heard the gospel - they moved on and left me with Steve.  But again, Steve only aided the gospel.  A guy on a bike stopped to find out what the fuss was about.  I turned to him and asked if he would like to learn about Christianity.  Much to Steve’s disgust, he was keen, and so we launched into a conversation, ignoring Steve.  Steve decided to leave me alone and annoy other team members.

After I was finished with that conversation, I was straight into a follow up conversation with a passionate young vegan.  Steve came back to butt into that conversation too, but when he realised it wasn’t stopping the conversation, he got bored and moved on.  The vegan guy is a walking contradiction, and completely closed to reason.  As he is so passionate about life, I challenged him on abortion - which he supports.  I caught him in his inconsistency - and he knew it.

The outreach finished with a long conversation with a guy who had been listening to one of the gospel conversations Thomas was having.  I gave him a tract, and said he would be welcome to come and chat with me on the other side of the mall.  About ten minutes later, he came over (pictured).  He seemed challenged, and appreciative of the chat.

After the outreach, the team enjoyed ice cream before heading home.  I praise God for all the wonderful gospel opportunities!  Be encouraged to step out and join us in the harvest! :)
 

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There was much outreach on Thursday and Friday in Christchurch, NZ.  Some wonderful gospel conversations, some very hard gospel conversations.

The highlight was a ten minute gospel conversation I had with a man at the Northlands bus stops.  He believed in God, heaven and hell.  He also thought he was good enough to go to heaven, but he was keen to try the good person test to confirm this.  So we went through the mini flip chart together.  Going through the law, and understanding the holiness of God was an eye opener for him, and then he heard the wonderful good news of justification by faith in Jesus sacrifice.

I then took him through the first checking question, and his instant response was: “I need to do good deeds”.  I was amazed, but not surprised at all.  So I wound back and took him through the gospel again.  He was really enjoying the conversation, and he got the checking question right the second time: “trust that Jesus paid my fine”.

I then proceeded to the second question: an analogy about a guy who trusts that Jesus paid his fine, but then sins five minutes later then dies.  Heaven or Hell?  He responded with Hell.  To my amazement, he articulated that the reason we go to heaven is by trusting that Jesus paid the fine… but he said, but you have to be a good person too.  He had gone from believing his good deeds would save him, to simply adding Jesus to his good works!  So I was able to explain that it was only by faith we are saved, and not by our works.

And then his thinking went to exactly what the mini flip chart was anticipating.  He said, “but that means we can trust Jesus paid our fine, and then do whatever we want, right?”.  He was finally understanding the grace of God!  It was my joy to turn the page and use the fireman analogy to explain that if we are trusting that Jesus has paid our fine, we will be a changed person.  If we understand His great sacrifice, we won’t want to sin any more (even though we will), out of thankfulness we will want to obey Jesus, and there will be a growing holiness in our lives.  He understood!

It was about now that his bus arrived and he had to go, he seemed to really appreciate the conversation, and took a tract before he dashed off.

Yes, the gospel message is a simple message, but I’m really appreciating that the concept of faith alone is very foreign and needs to be explained well.  It’s so natural to think we need to be good people to earn favour and reward.  But we are saved by grace, through faith in Jesus to the glory of God alone!

If you haven’t already got one, get a mini flip chart and try it out.  You can purchase here: NZ, AU

So many other gospel interactions occurred, but I don’t have the time to write about them: I had a follow up with a young man who said he went to church on Sunday.  He listened as I shared the gospel with two others beside him, and afterwards he agreed that it is truly good news.  I saw my regular JWs again.  They were happy to talk, but only if it was about the weather.  Our debates have been a bit “stressful”.  I continue to pray for them.

It didn’t all go well though.  I was sitting down taking notes of a conversation when a lady sat down next to me, once I had finished with my notes, I turned to her and offered her a tract.  She semi exploded: “no, I'm not interested, take it away!”.  I said: “no problem, you have a nice day”.  She wasn’t expecting me to react that way, and she calmed down: “you have a nice day too”.

Once I was at Eastgate, one of the hardest conversations I’ve ever had occurred.  A offered a tract to a guy.  When he saw it he gave a disgusted look and walked off.  But then he turned around and wanted to talk about it.  So we settled into a long conversation, where he challenged me, and, by God’s grace, I was able to give him reasonable answers.  He slowly started getting agitated, but I kept responding to his arguments.  And I think this was a mistake.  I should have backed off, as he wasn’t open to any truth or reason.  He just became angry.  Eventually he started getting out of control, so I said, “look, you need to calm down, I’m not going to answer if you get upset”.  Eventually I stopped responding to him, but this just enraged him more and he started getting abusive and racist.  I tried looking him in the eyes, I tried looking at his feet.  But it was out of hand and nothing was working.  So I said, “look, I need to go”, and I started walking off, but this just enraged him more.  He started standing in front of me so I couldn’t walk away.  I was left with no choice, so I pulled out my phone and called the Police.  When he saw that I was actually dialing the emergency number (I didn’t know what the non emergency number was), he left (thankfully).  I talked to the police, and I apologised for disturbing them, but they were very understanding, and wanted to take details in case he came back and I needed to call again.  I thank God for my protection.  And I was very grateful for the understanding of the police.

I was rattled.  But I wasn’t going to let this stop me.  I stayed and had two more gospel conversations before leaving.

So that was just the highlights of Thursday, and I haven’t had a chance to write about Friday yet - I’ll leave that to the next report.  Thank you for your prayers!  We don’t need to fear man, or the devil - the worst they can do is take our life.  Fear God!
 

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I had more opportunities to interact with people while letterbox dropping on Tuesday.  I took a few minutes to help a guy get some stuff off a trailer - he took a tract.  And then I was able to help somebody in a mobility scooter with directions (Google Maps to the rescue!) - they also took a tract.

After that, I moved to Riccarton.  It was windy, so I decided to leave the big flip chart behind.  Roger joined me, but decided to bring his flip chart.  Before he had even had a chance to finish setting it up, he was into a gospel conversation!

Once that conversation was complete, I helped Roger finish setting up his flip chart, while he was busy gathering more people to talk to.  He had much success, and we started engaging two high school students.  They needed to get going, but one of them claimed to be a Christian - so I challenged him on the way to heaven.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear him say that many people think it’s their good works, but it’s actually trusting in Jesus sacrifice!

But while this was happening, a couple (he had a catholic background and she had a protestant one) stopped intrigued by the big flip chart, and so a conversation developed with them.  Roger was keen to see the new mini flip chart in action, and so I shared the gospel with them using that.  During the conversation, she had many good questions, which Roger and I did our best to answer.  In hindsight, I feel like I didn’t do a good job giving her answers.  Often people are trying to ask questions in a veiled way - they want answers without giving details.  This was a good reminder to slow down and take the time to listen and clarify (via counter questions).

Roger had to leave early, so to finish the outreach, I decided to head down to the bus stops to engage people there.  I got into a conversation with a high school student with a fascinating background.  He was from Pakistan and apparently had a mum who was a catholic, but a dad who was muslim.  I wasn’t surprised to hear that he thought his good deeds would get him to heaven!  He was engaged as I took him through the law, and then showed him the only hope we have for heaven: the gospel

Wednesday’s outreach to the city had an interesting start.  A young man was boldly walking up to people and trying to give them a large pamphlet!  I called out saying I’d like one and I was surprised to see that it was a watchtower magazine.  The JWs are not usually as bold as this on the streets.  It turns out it was a young man with much zeal but little knowledge - and he wasn’t a JW.  He knew plenty of Christian lingo, and gave me a long list of things someone needed to do to go to heaven.  I was able to pull out my mini flip chart and explain the gospel - he seemed to appreciate it.  He asked if I had any pamphlets - I gave him a tract before we parted ways.

After I set up the flip chart, I got into a conversation with a lady I first met last week.  She was keen to try the flip chart - but we didn’t get past the first page.  I wasn’t able to reason with her on a basis for good and bad.  She was getting slightly upset, and so I decided to just shake hands with her and let her go.  She had received a tract the previous day.

But I had a number of other gospel conversations, and was pleasantly surprised to be engaged long enough to let me go 45 minutes longer on the street than I was planning.

I had a long conversation with two teen guys, who started asking me the veiled questions.  So, learning from yesterday, I slowed down to really listen and do my best to make sure they were getting the best answers I could give.  They clearly understood the gospel, but they understood the cost and were counting it as they left.

I finished up with a fresh chat with a young man we have had many discussions with in the past.  I was surprised to learn that he had been involved with a church.  We connected on Facebook.

I’m grateful to God for the opportunity to share His gospel over these two days.  Thank you for your support that is enabling me to do this!  Thinking of joining me?  Just do it!
 

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Sunday afternoon was not only an Operation 513 outreach to Cashel Mall (in Christchurch NZ), but it was the first monthly “Outreach Sunday” for Redemption Church.  Not only did all four elders of the Church get behind this initiative (bringing their families out with them), but there were a total of 27 people from the church involved!  It was a sweltering 33 degrees celsius - but that didn’t stop the enthusiasm.

For me, as one of the elders, my biggest prayer was that those that got involved would have a positive experience of community/street outreach like this; seeing that people are indeed open and willing to discuss the important questions of life, and hear the gospel message of Jesus.  As far as I’m aware, God answered that prayer!

The most poignant memory from the outreach was the end of the very last flipchart conversation I had.  It was a harder one, with a young man from China.  I think the gospel concepts I was explaining were quite foreign, so I had to be patient - but I’m fairly confident he eventually understood.  As he left (with a Bible from me and various tracts that he had received earlier in the outreach from kids handing them to him), I looked up to see Anna, with Luke in the pushchair beaming a smile at me and giving me a double thumbs up.  I guess she was encouraged - and that greatly encourages me!

It was wonderful watching people walking down the mall, reading the gospel tracts as they were going.

It was also wonderful hearing people saying, “no thanks, I’ve already got one” - to an offered gospel tract.

I watched Jason (pictured) have a long chat with a young German tourist (who had turned down an offer to try the flip chart with me).  Although very resistant initially, he willingly stayed to the point where he came to understand the gospel.  I watched them exchange contact details.

Near the end of the outreach, Jason had another gospel conversation with a lady who had grown up in a Southern Baptist environment in the USA, but had (unbelievably) never sewn all the gospel concepts into an understandable whole.  The penny dropped today!

It was very encouraging to hear a report of Toby, who has only been involved with two outreaches prior (Tell Me Conference, and Canterbury A&P Show) being willing to initiate a walk up conversation!

May Redemption Church continue to grow in their confidence in sharing the good news of Jesus regularly in this way, and may that lead to more confidence in sharing Jesus in their personal relationships too.  May the other churches in Christchurch, NZ, and beyond get involved as well.  May Elders across the land - indeed the whole world - continue to show leadership in the area of evangelism.  May God receive glory through the obedience of His children sharing the gospel, and the salvation of the lost by His grace!

I was also in the city on Saturday: Cathedral Square and Cashel Mall.  The outreach started quite slowly - with plenty of people, but no one interested in stopping to chat.  But I eventually started my first conversation, and ended up having a good outreach.  At one point I ended up sandwiched between the Hara Krisina’s and a soprano singing trumpeter!  :D  I had to move!

Oh Lord, raise up labourers for the harvest!  Continue to encourage and equip Christians for the great commission.  All to the glory of your name.
 

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It was an unusual set of outreaches to the Eastgate and Northlands bus stops this week, because, sadly, I ended up talking to a lot of people under the influence of alcohol: either drunk or hungover.  And all this on a Thursday afternoon!

Some may think it’s a waste of time talking to someone who is drunk - will they remember what was talked about are they worth it?  They are just as worthy as me!  I had a compassion for them, and a realisation that they are just as spiritually dead as the rest of us in our sin (apart from Christ).  It is impossible for me to save drunk people - or anyone, but Christ can, through the preaching of the gospel.  So I persisted.

It started with a man in a bus shelter at Eastgate, drinking a can of beer.  It turns out Andy has spoken to him before, and he had some recollection of that.  I patiently tried to reason with him and explain the bad news of the law, and the good news of the gospel.  There were moments, where he tried to comprehend, but he said it was confusing.

Suddenly, a lady - also drunk, barged into the conversation.  She wanted to sit right between us, so I shuffled over so she could.  Her language was really foul, and she was being rude.  But I ignored it, and patiently tried to include her in the gospel conversation.  She lied to the first man about not having any cigarettes, because later she tried to sell him one for a can of beer.  And she condemned her father for being a drunk, oblivious to her hypocrisy.

I’m not sure if I made much progress with either of them.  But God loved us so much, that he died for us, even when we were His enemies.  May He have mercy on them too!

Latter, after they had both left, I cleaned up four empty beer cans from the bus shelter.

I moved over to the next bus shelter, and started a conversation with a young man, he was happy for me to talk, but his eyes glazed over a bit, which was discouraging - he wasn’t interested.  He said he had a hangover, and the conversation was a bit too heavy for him.

But another guy came into the shelter whom I recognised.  It turns out I had spoken to him outside the hospital about nine months ago.  He couldn’t tell me the way to heaven, but he was keen to hear it - but his bus was three minutes away!  I didn’t make it to the gospel, but he happily received a gospel tract.

At Northlands, I had one of the most intense conversations I’ve ever had.  It was with an ex-soldier, again drunk.  He challenged me on why he should believe in a God, and after a few minutes was about to walk off.  Thankfully I was able to keep him engaged enough so he stayed to talk.  This guy had seen some horrendous stuff in action and was wrestling with some deep hurts and sin.  He was suicidal, and I often I had to bring him back to the knowledge that there is real hope (in Christ) and not to kill himself.  I didn’t let this guy justify his sin - he swung from talking about some deep sins, but then saying he wasn’t bad enough for hell.  At the same time, I was doing my best to explain how even the worst of sins could be justly forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus and faith in Him.  This guy took a contact card for my church, and a gospel tract.

Friday morning we were back outside the Hospital bringing the gospel to the issue of abortion.  The highligh for me was a conversation with an ex-muslim man.  He wanted to take a photo of us to post on social media - no problem with us.  We had a great conversation where I was able to explain the basis for abortion being murder and the hope of forgiveness through faith in Christ.

At lunch time we were in Cathedral Square where Marty and Andy both preached in the open air.  I had a good follow up conversation with a guy who had heckled my open air preaching a few months prior.

In the afternoon, we were at the corner of Cashel Mall and Colombo Street.  I got into a gospel conversation with a lady handing out flyers for Uber Eats.  She had listened to many of my gospel conversations on Wednesday, and had received a tract.  But now I was able to talk with her directly.

Unfortunately, that conversation was interrupted by a new atheist (one who believes religion has no benefit for society).  He was in attack mode and talking very fast, I could barely keep up!  Eventually I was able to get him to shake my hand and exchange names.  And by the end of the conversation, we were talking about our children with each other.  He eventually received a phone call and had to go.  I didn’t get to finish that conversation with the Uber Eats girl, but hopefully I will have another opportunity.

I found the evening outreach difficult, I was struggling with a fear of man.  But I persisted in my attempts to share the gospel with people.  I was able to challenge four men from Ethiopia, who claimed to be Christian, about what our hope for forgiveness was.
 

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Wednesday in Christchurch dawned with rain - which was actually good, because the day developed into a very hot and sunny day and the cooler weather was better while I did some more letterbox dropping in the morning.

And for two days in a row, I was able to get into a gospel conversation while letterbox dropping!  Here is a pro tip: smile.  Everytime I pass someone on the street, I give a friendly smile, if they respond with their own smile it can easily allow for a conversation to start, which can lead to a gospel conversation.  Well today, my smile to a gentleman walking the other direction led to him receiving a tract and asking what it was.  When he learned I was a Christian, he quickly declared his Atheism - but was keen to chat.

Like yesterday, I wasn’t able to have a full gospel conversation, but I was able to challenge him on why evolution wasn’t sufficient as a creative mechanism, and why only God explained the existence of the universe and the life found in it.  I was able to give him a basis for morality, and show him how none of us met the standard.  But, sadly, he didn’t want to hear the good news of the hope of eternal life found in Jesus.  I hope he was challenged, and reads the tract that he put in his pocket.

Once I made it to Cathedral Square to start the first outreach of the day, I was able to catch up with one of the stall vendors.  I was encouraged to hear that some Christians had been preaching the gospel (a few days prior) in Speakers Corner using Ray Comforts’ trivia/money technique.  I hope I get to encounter them one day soon.

I ended up settling on the corner of Cashel and Colombo for the outreach and had four great gospel conversations.

An Indian girl heard and understood the gospel, but wasn’t willing to let go of her Hinduism.

I had a long conversation with a man who was a big fan of Jordan Peterson.  I had to be patient as the man processed the reasoning that undergirds the gospel.  He heard the law, but (again) didn’t want to hear the gospel.  But he seemed to really appreciate the chat.  He took a tract, and it would be great if I get to see him again.

At this point, the heat of the day was starting to take its toll, so I had an energy bar.  I went to put the rubbish in the bin, and to my surprise people had started to gather around my flip chart in my brief absence.  This led to a solid gospel conversation with two young ladies.

To finish off the morning outreach, I had a guy and girl show interest in the chart.  It turns out she had already done it about six months ago.  I asked her if she passed the test, and she said she hadn’t.  I asked if she knew the good news, and she didn’t.  So going from there, I took them through the chart.  Sadly, they were understanding, but not understanding.  They really weren’t interested in the good news.  And not surprisingly, they both failed my first checking question.  They had to go.

After lunch, the second outreach of the day started.  I ditched the flip chart and looked for shaded areas to approach people to chat.  I ended up having five gospel opportunities.  The two highlights were: a conversation with a young lady with a Catholic background who seemed very open to the foreign concept of salvation by faith alone: good news!  And a wonderful conversation on my first walk down High Street for the year (I only made it halfway due to this conversation).

The conversation was with an Atheist and was going really well, when a guy I hadn’t noticed came and interrupted.  He had overheard me say: “Jesus said ‘anger is like murder of the heart’”, and so his interruption was to ask if I knew Aramaic.  I was initially confused by this, but soon understood what he was getting at.  Interestingly, I think this guy was expecting me to get into an argument with him - he looked tensed up and ready to fight!  I think he was surprised when I responded gently.  We ended up shaking hands.  Maybe I broke his street evangelist stereotype?  I hope so.  Unfortunately, the conversation with either men wasn’t able to continue - the first guy had to go back to work.  But I hope these guys get more opportunities to hear the gospel - maybe from you?  You're ready to share the gospel - right?

I’m starting to get back into my regular schedule post some holidays and the NZ Summer Mission.  As always, thank you for your prayers and support!
 

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Sunday afternoon was the first outreach after the completion of the NZ Summer Mission in Christchurch & Dunedin (you can read the reports from the mission here).

It was a nice day, and there were lots of people in Cashel Mall.  But for whatever reason, it was really difficult to get a conversation started (in stark contrast to my experience in Dunedin).  Oh, how I miss being in Dunedin!  My three daughters were with me, and it was a good lesson in perseverance for them.  Evangelism is not easy - but Jesus is worthy!  Yet some tracts were received and I did manage to get into one conversation.

Mike joined us later in the outreach, and armed with his new mini flip chart, he went off in search of a conversation (paired up with Haley).  He came back with a wonderful report of a conversation with a tourist.  He was able to go through the whole flip chart with him - and the checking questions really helped the guy to understand the gospel.

On Tuesday I was doing some letterbox dropping before heading to Riccarton for the late afternoon outreach, when I was challenged by an older lady about what I was doing.  I looked up and informed her that I was putting gospel tracts in letterboxes.  She asked what a gospel tract was, so I explained that I was a Christian and that I wanted people to know the good news about Jesus - and a gospel tract communicated that message.  I was very surprised by her response.  I was expecting her to tell me not to put one in her box, but instead she was delighted!  She was doing some gardening, but was obviously very keen to talk, and so I sat down to oblige.

She had a Catholic background, and figured that her goodness would get her to heaven.  So she was deeply challenged when I showed her what Jesus taught about goodness.  She kept changing the subject to political issues, and how bad the world was, and how much people like me are needed.  But I kept gently bringing the subject back to the problem of her own sin.  She wasn’t open to a full gospel conversation, and so didn’t hear the good news.  But she did receive a tract.  As I moved on, I came to the end of the road, and crossed to come back down the other side to deliver tracts.  I was going to wave to her, but to my surprise she was gone.  I hope she went inside to study the tract.

The last time I had been in Riccarton was two weeks prior during the NZ Summer Mission.  There were about ten Christians there and I was amazed at how many conversations the team were able to have.  Now I was back on my own, and I struggled a bit to get conversations started.  Yet tracts were received, and over the outreach I was able to have three good gospel conversations.

The first was with a young lady, who was intrigued by my question about the afterlife, and stayed to hear the gospel via the big flip chart.  The second was with a guy (pictured walking away reading a tract) whom I had to really labour with to get him to understand the way to heaven.

The last was a wonderful conversation with another young lady, who had some Christian influence in her life, but had not really been able to sew it altogether.  Many times through the conversation I was able to observe the penny drop as she joined the dots and understood the gospel.  She would say things like: “It’s making sense now!” (multiple checking questions confirmed this).  At the end she was challenged to respond to the gospel.  She was keen to accept a free Bible and start reading it, and wanted recommendations for a youth group.  We talked about church options for her area, she also received a contact card for my local church.
 

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