Friday Night Notes

winter preaching is here...


First off, before I give you the notes tonight, I want to say a big "praise God" for my humble little blog. When I look back on my years of street evangelism, I can clearly see how "therapeutic" my time in front of the computer after a night of evangelism was and is. I used to come back from our Friday endeavours totally frazzled by the hatred hurled at me, depressed at the hardness of the people's hearts, and then I would lay down in bed, trying to fall asleep, but with all these emotions and thoughts keeping me wide awake.

Now, I come home, turn on the computer, and with classical music playing in the background, I deal with the night of evangelism I just went through. By the time I'm done, I have worked through some of the emotions running through me just by trying to explain to you all, dear readers, what I've done and how I feel. It also, usually, takes me a lot of time to put these posts together, so by the time I'm done writing, I'm literally falling asleep; so no more sleepless nights. Again, praise God.

Tonight, all and all, was a good night. It was cold (I wore all my winter gear for the first time this year), we were mocked, and for the most part, the people in the marketplace were quite indifferent to the Gospel. That said, we had some good conversations with a few kinder souls. I got a chance to witness to three Muslims in once instance and a few moments later, to a Jew who probably had a bit too much to drink. I didn't get too far with the Jewish gentleman, but my conversation with the Muslims went rather well. They took one of my Bible tracts and while I don't believe they were seriously considering the Gospel, they did listen and asked some pretty good and fair questions. The Lord use our exchange as He sees fit.

I also spoke with Collin again, the parking garage attendant. He still has an interest in the Faith, but definitely not converted. I tried (yet again) to impress on him that the only way he would ever have a successful Christian experience, is by loving God. Not loving God plus his car, or loving God plus anything else in this life, but loving God supremely. I hope Collin will consider these words carefully, and I will continue to pray for him. He said he would try to be at church this Lord's Day.

Oh! remember this:

"I had a chance to speak to a young lady named Amélie, who professed faith in Christ and was looking for a good church to go to on the Lord's Day. She was really impressed by our zeal to evangelize, so she was quite keen to find out where I attended church. I invited her to our Lord's Day meeting, and she said she'd surely come by. Praise God!"

Well, Amélie did show up at our church service that Lord's Day and has been coming to most of our services since. She even showed up tonight to help us with our evangelism! The poor woman didn't last too long though, she simply didn't have warm enough winter gear. However, it must be noted that in less than an hour, Amélie distributed more Bible tracts than pastor Tim and I did in our three hours of street preaching.

"You know what it is," pastor Tim began, "it's that she is such a beautiful young woman... the guys are practically running to take a tract from her."

"So, if we aren't passing out many tracts then, what does that say about our looks?" I replied, tongue firmly in cheek.

Finally, both pastor Tim and I shared the Gospel with an older gentlemen who I believe was and is seeking the Lord. He told us that he had started to read the Bible but was having a bit of trouble understanding it all. He also told us that he had been listening to Charles Stanley's radio program and was learning some things through that ministry. We encouraged him to come to church on the Lord's Day, and most of all, to continue studying the Bible. I hope and pray he will come by this Lord's Day.

Well, my classical music selection is almost done, and I'm pretty tired; so that's the notes for tonight. I thank all of you, dear readers, who continue to keep up with my escapades... especially you brothers and sisters-in-the Lord who pray for us every Friday.

Have a blessed weekend, and a restful Lord's Day,


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Saturday Morning Notes

a much sweeter crowd...

Pastor Tim and I picked up our Bible signs this morning and for the second time in less than 12 hours, went to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This time we didn't head for the marketplace, but rather to the Santa Clause parade.

Every year, our city organizes a Santa Clause parade, which is filled with all sorts of Christmas themes, with one clear exception: no Jesus. So we make it a point to bring the Gospel to their godless parade. Armed with Bible signs which speak of God's gift to sinners, we walk ahead of the parade (at least 5 minutes ahead), and let the people read the Word of God, which is living and powerful.

While we still had our detractors, generally, we were very well received by the thousands of families out to watch the parade. On several occasions we heard "thank you" and "God bless", and many parents read the signs for their children. That was good. Even "Santa" when he saw our signs, looked at us directly and said:

"Merry Christmas and God bless you guys!"

I also had a chance to be a witness to the city mayor. We often see the mayor walking his dog in the marketplace on Friday night, so he is very much aware of us. So, when he walked by, waving and wishing the people "Merry Christmas" (he was in the parade), he got a glimpse of my Bible sign, looked directly at me and waved at me. I waved back and got a "thumbs up" from him.

I must say, I could really get used to this kind of evangelism. LOL.

The Lord use our evangelistic effort as He sees fit, and may He get all the glory and honour.

Amen.


Rand

Labels: Evangelism

Friday Night Notes

human garbage???


Well, it's Friday night, and for this child of God, that means it's street preaching night. Pastor Tim and I made our way to the same spot in the marketplace, with the same message: repentance to God. The response, for the most part was the usual. That is, mockery and scorn. That said, through our efforts, several souls have Bible literature with them and many have heard something of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

All and all though, it was another quiet night; the pubs and bars weren't by any means full tonight. Praise God. That will probably change as we get closer to Christmas and the wicked start their shopping sprees and planning "Christmas parties". You can count on the unconverted to use any excuse to do evil; and when it comes to doing evil, there is no place like the marketplace.

We didn't exactly "feel the love" tonight. While we heard "God bless you" from a few souls, we were treated to some pretty nasty words. One man, a shop owner, came out of his store twice, to make sure we knew what he thought of us. In a thick French accent, he said:

"You preachers are garbage. Human garbage. Why don't you go to Iraq or Afghanistan with the other garbage."

Then there was a young woman who was begging for money. When we refused to feed her addiction(s), she lashed out at us with this charge:

"You guys are probably a couple of sick pedophiles."

And finally, there was a drunk fool who yelled out that my whole life was meaningless. All his friends got a good laugh at my expense. The Lord forgive them.

We did have some profitable conversations. Nothing that looked like the salvation of the Lord, but a few chats that might be the beginning of something good for some souls. I spoke with a man about the error of the Jehovah's Witness and he was very appreciative of my insight. Pastor Tim dealt with a young woman named Roxanne, who was and is in quite a mess. She is living in a shelter and her life is obviously in turmoil. Pastor Tim shared the Gospel with her and she paid close attention. Her head was bowed the whole time and she responded very earnestly to Pastor Tim's words.

It was a real treat to watch Pastor Tim deal with this young lady. The scene reminded me of a poster we had in the lab where I work. It was a picture of a bear and her cub tucked against her belly. The caption under this image was: Unprecedented Power and Sensitivity. You see, pastor Tim, in a way, is very much like the bear in that picture. Decades of street evangelism has made him tough and strong in the face of all sorts of adversity; and yet, this battle hardened preacher still has the ability to show sincere and tender sensitivity when dealing with souls in trouble. I pray the Lord will teach me to be such an effective evangelist one day, and I pray for Roxanne's soul.

Finally, I had a big downer tonight. I think I messed up in my dealings with a man who came by to thank me for preaching the Gospel. We had a nice talk, but it became evident that while he claimed to be a saved man, well, I just don't think he was a saved man. I believe he was a somewhat religious man, but that's about it. Despite this gut feeling, I never addressed my concerns to the man. I just went along with our nice conversation until the man left with a smile on his face. When he left I thought to myself:

"This man probably needed to leave you grieved, like the rich young ruler. Instead, he left thinking that all was well with his soul and that we are both 'brothers'."

Anyway, the man did take a Bible tract. I pray that if my gut feeling was correct, that the Lord would use that tract to get the man thinking about his true spiritual condition. The Lord be merciful to him and may He teach this poor excuse for a preacher to deal more prudently and earnestly with souls that come to him.

With that, I close the notes for tonight. Tomorrow is another evangelistic effort, so I need to get to bed. Tomorrow is the Mammon Parade (aka: the Santa Clause parade).

I'll keep you posted.

God bless you all, dear readers.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

a cold, quiet night in the market...


After a week off (we were visiting family last weekend), it was good to be back at my post in the marketplace, preaching the Word of Truth. I was the sole preacher tonight; pastor Tim was just too tired from working a great deal of overtime this week. I was pretty tired myself. I too worked a great deal of extra hours at my workplace and I spent most of the week fighting a nasty virus. That said, God gave me both the strength and will to go out and preach the Gospel. Praise God!

This is the first Friday night, this year, that I had to wear my winter jacket. Yes, it was that cold. I'm not going to gripe too much about the weather in this post since I know all too well that in Canada, it's only going to get worse over the next few weeks.

All and all, it was quiet in the market tonight. I suppose the cold weather kept many souls from going out to party. Things will probably remain quiet until the Christmas season starts; then the crowds will be out in full force. Still, even on a quiet night, I surely reached hundreds of souls with the Gospel message. Again, praise be to God!

I enjoyed watching the various facial expressions people showed me as they walked by. There was a man who looked down his nose at me and without saying a word, he clearly conveyed the message that I was way... way below him. Then there was the young lady who took one of my Bible tracts with a grin on her face, probably thinking she was doing me a favor by taking one of my "flyers". On the positive end, there was a young man who drove by and when he saw my Bible sign, he nodded approvingly, and eventually said: "God bless you for this!"

I spent a great deal of time speaking to a young man named Anthony in the last hour of my evangelistic endeavour. I don't think Anthony had any particular faith, but he did mention that he approved of ecumenism, so I guess he's one of those "all-roads-lead-to-Heaven" types. Nevertheless, we had a great conversation. He had intelligent questions for me, and we turned a number of times to the Scriptures for the answers. After a Q&A session that lasted near 20 minutes, he took a Bible tract and thanked me for my time. The Lord bless Anthony and his friend Gabriel, may He give them life and life abundant.

Before leaving the marketplace for the night, a man walked up to me and pointed to my Bible sign and said:

"If any of that ?#$% were true, the world would be far better place!"

The man was clearly hard-hearted and had no time to listen to reason, so I just walked away. How sad though. Wicked men are real quick to charge God with evil, but so slow to be thankful to Him for His abundant tender mercies and providence.

With that, dear readers, I'll close this week's Friday Night Notes. It's time for some well earned rest. Have a great weekend, dear ones, and a blessed Lord's Day.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism