Friday Night Notes

how we preach...

Another Friday night, another 3 hours of evangelism. Armed with Bible tracts and Gospel signs, my pastor and I preached the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to hundreds, if not thousands of souls tonight. The Lord be praised. As usual, the response wasn't too warm, but the Lord protected us and even gave us opportunities to witness one-on-one with a few souls.

Now before I give you a summary of our work tonight, I want to address something. Last week, I had a few unbelievers question the effectiveness of our preaching. For the most part, the issue wasn't with our evangelism per se, but rather, our method of evangelism. I was told (in comments and by e-mail) that I was too harsh; that I wasn't loving enough in my dealings with unbelievers. I was told that I had "to go down to their level," and find more "loving ways" to communicate the Gospel to our hearers. I was warned that I was just turning people off.

Well... listen to this audio clip by missionary Paul Washer (taken from an interview on Way of the Master Radio). It will explain C-L-E-A-R-L-Y why I reject the charges I received last week, and why I will continue preaching the Gospel the way the Bible declares it should be preached.

Now, to the notes:


That Hateful Rand:

I was walking down the bar/pub strip with a Gospel sign when a Sodomite walked up to me and said:

"You're just scaring people, you know."

"I wish that were true," I answered.

"You're a freak, you know that?" he retorted.

I couldn't think of anything kind or reasonable to say after that fine example of wit, so I just kept walking. But, the Sodomite wasn't done. He came back a few seconds later, walked well into my "personal space" and said:

"When are you going to stop your hatred?"

I looked at my sign, pointed to it, and said:

"God so loved the world... oh yeah... lots of hate there!"

"You're not fooling anyone," he replied angrily, "I know all about your hateful message!"

"And what kind of message are you giving me tonight, my friend," I calmly asked. "I'm asking because, I got to tell you, I'm not feelin' the love!"

I don't know if his depraved mind allowed him to recognize the high level of hypocrisy in his charges against me, but he did leave me alone from that moment on. He just walked away.


Every Security Guard Should Know:

Our preaching "spot" is right beside a parking garage. This parking garage has a security guard that basically keeps drunkards and vandals out. Two or three times a night, the security guard makes his rounds around the outside of the garage which means, he walks right by us.

The man has always been kind and courteous to us. We've always gotten along great, but sadly, my pastor and I had never been able to give this soul the Gospel. Well, tonight, my pastor seized the opportunity the Lord gave him. When the security guard came out for his second walk around the garage, my pastor called out to him, presented a Gospel tract and said:

"Every security guard in this wicked and sometimes violent world needs to know the Gospel!"

The security guard, with a big smile on his face, accepted the tract and wished us a goodnight.


My Favorite Move:

I was distributing Gospel tracts when a woman walked by me. She read the Gospel sign that was right behind me, and she looked at me with a bit of a perplexed look. She didn't say anything, and she didn't take a tract, she just walked away. Such a reaction isn't uncommon, so I just shrugged it off, and reset my focus on the other people who were walking past me.

Well, I don't know this for sure, but I get the feeling the Holy Spirit wasn't letting that woman alone because, believe it or not, she walked back to me and asked me for a Gospel tract. I smiled, handed her the tract and said "goodnight".


And that's the notes for tonight, dear readers. I'm off to bed... it's been a long week. God bless your weekend, and have a great Lord's Day.


Rand