Thursday Night Notes!!!

didn't expect that now did ya?


I went out street preaching a day earlier than the usual time due to scheduling conflicts. I'm not just a street preacher, I'm also a lab technician, a husband, and a father of four. Friday night, I will be putting on my "daddy" hat, and will be going to a hockey game with my eldest son who will be celebrating a birthday early next week (Pastor Tim was actually given a couple of tickets to our local junior hockey team and he passed them on to me and suggested I take my son).

I was out, by myself, for a little over 2 hours, street preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and handing Bible tracts, and I suspect Pastor Tim will be doing the same tomorrow night (remember him in your prayers, dear saints). It was cold and quiet on the streets of the marketplace tonight. I forgot to bring my gloves with me (I didn't think I'd need them), and my hands froze two or three times (to the point that they ached when I paused to warm them up). Mental note: break out the winter gear.

The market was mostly empty tonight. It's the same every year. Things will remain this way until December, and then there will be a bit of a spike in the number of souls in the market. Even then, the large crowds are gone until springtime, some 5-6 months away. Still, we will continue the work of the Great Commission... preaching to a few hundreds may seem like a big drop when compared to the tens of thousands that crowd the streets of the market in the summer, but giving the Gospel to those few hundreds is a whole lot better than not giving it to anyone over the span of 5-6 months!

With the smaller crowds, I ended up doing more tract distribution than preaching. I walked around looking for groups of people I could share the Gospel with. I ended up setting shop near the entrance of a shopping mall where many souls read the Bible sign I was carrying, and a fair number of them accepted some literature. The Lord use those seeds as He sees fit.

I spoke with a man named Randy who was mighty happy to see me preaching. He professed to be a believer, and said he really appreciated what I was doing. There were a number of doctrinal and practical problems in Randy's testimony, so I don't know if he is genuinely my brother-in-the-Lord, but he definitely had an interest and an appreciation for the things of God. I encouraged him to become faithful to a local assembly of believers, and most of all, that he would be faithful in the Scriptures. He received everything I had to say and didn't argue against the Scriptures I cited, which is a decidedly good thing. The Lord be merciful to him.

On a few occasions tonight, I had young people walk up to me to receive a Bible tract. Like they would walk from across the street, or would deviate from their course in order to receive something of the Gospel of Christ. I love it when that happens. One young lady, after taking a tract, even said: "I think you are doing the Lord's work right now... and I really respect that!"

I called it a night around 8pm. By that time, my whole body was shivering and both my hands were frozen. Ah! the cold season...

Here we go again.


Rand

Labels: Evangelism

No Notes

rain and paint...

There is no street preaching report this week, dear readers. It was raining tonight, so both Pastor Tim and I stayed home and worked on our respective homes! Lots and lots of painting!

Have a blessed and safe weekend, dear readers...


Rand

Friday Night Notes

descent night of evangelism...

We nearly cancelled our night of evangelism due to rain, but by evening, the rain was really light, so we pressed on. It was wet and damp, a bit cold, but the Lord helped us complete another three hours of street preaching for His honour and glory.

For a rainy night, the marketplace was busy enough. We had a steady flow of people walking by our Bible signs, some took some of our Gospel literature, and we had a number of one-on-one conversations with lost sinners. All in all, a good night of street evangelism.

I spoke at length with three men: Liam, James and Clay. Liam had a battery of questions for me, from "why am I preaching downtown?" to "how does God affect your daily life?". He also asked questions about my life in general and was surprised that I was, in his words, "a real dude!" I was kind of funny. By answering his questions, Liam and his friends got a pretty good Gospel presentation from me; I hope the Lord will be pleased to save them!

Pastor Tim also had a few conversations with souls that had a genuine interest in the Gospel. I saw him shake hands with a number of people who offered him encouragement or simply came for some answers. Both of us heard "God bless you!" on a number of occasions tonight; some of those came from polite unbelievers, but many came from saints. During our last half-hour of evangelism, I even had a young couple, Evgeni and Rachel, come over to pray for me! And as if that wasn't enough, as this dear couple asked the Lord to bless me and help me in prayer, Pastor Tim, a block away, was visited by a group of young Christians who, you guessed it, formed a circle and prayed for him. The Lord bless and reward richly these dear souls for refreshing us evangelists.

The night did have its challenges though. The wicked guitar player that has been plaguing us these last few months was at his post again tonight, mocking and blaspheming. Pastor Tim and I agreed that it was best just to ignore the wicked soul, but when he yelled at me tonight, mockingly asking me to preach to him, I couldn't resist:

"Okay," I began, "you are a miserable, wicked sinner. You need to repent and be converted to God."

"Bah," he replied, "I may be a wicked sinner, but I ain't no hypocrite!"

"No," I said, "you're a hypocrite too!"

At that point, the wicked soul began walking away, heading for a pub I had seen him go to on a number of occasions in the past. Again, I couldn't resist:

"You go blow that money on drink now!"

The inside joke is that he proclaims to one and all before beginning his "musical" act (note the quotation marks... he's awful!) that donations go to help support his family. The fact of the matter is, the second he has enough money for the pub, he scoots off for a few minutes, only to return to "work" for the next trip. Good thing "he ain't no hypocrite".

There were other mockers and scorners, but at this point, I've forgotten most of what they said, and that's a good thing. The Lord have mercy on them.

On that note, I'll say goodnight and have a blessed, safe weekend, dear saints.

Remember us in your prayers!


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

oh... what a night...

Lots went on tonight... it had been over two weeks since my last street preaching endeavour, so it was good for me to get back at it. Pastor Tim and I, as is our custom, made our way to the market with our Bible signs and Gospel tracts and proclaimed the Gospel to sinners who were out to play in the pubs and shops. There was no shortage of lost souls tonight; the market was packed with people, especially from 7-9 pm.

We had a few promising one-on-one conversations with souls who were interested in our work. A Frenchman named Serge spoke to us, asking us intelligent questions and showing some interest in the Scriptures. Pastor Tim also spoke at length with a couple of men who wanted to know why we were preaching in the market (I was a spectator to that conversation... did Pastor Tim ever reason well with them!).

With the good however, came a lot of bad. We had a number of unprofitable conversations, with our weekly dose of mockery and scorn. One young man, while walking by my Bible sign said: "Why don't you just make up your own quotes?" I replied with: "Like everyone else does these days?" Reminded me of Judges 17:6... "every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

The mocking guitar player was there again, and he was as vile as ever. Actually, this time, he was worse, since he didn't just disrespect us, he intimidated and bullied another guitar player (this one was a woman) who had set up shop where he wanted to play. Pastor Tim and I were incensed. We both prayed and tried to keep our cool, but when the woman took off, having had enough of being badgered, Pastor Tim high sense of honour moved him to action.

"You just really showed off what a little, gutless man you truly are!" he said while walking toward the wicked musician.

"You better watch your mouth, or I'll..." the guitar player said while getting into the preacher's face.

I was a fair distance away when all this was being said and done, but thank the Lord, things didn't go any further. The good preacher stood his ground and the wicked soul walked away cursing and swearing. We both figured that Pastor Tim's attempt to shame him was a total waste of time, but an hour after all this took place, the young woman, the other guitar player, walked by us and told us that the bully apologized to her.

There may yet be hope, dear readers!

On my way back home, after three hours of evangelism, I met up with the Open-Air Campaigners a few blocks away from where Pastor Tim and I were preaching. It was good to speak with and encourage the brothers in their work. Brother Paul of The Word Street Journal was lending a helping hand to the Campaigners tonight, and graciously offered to give me a ride back home. We had great time of fellowship on that short drive, and I am grateful to the Lord working that out!

That's all I have for tonight, dear readers... please remember us in your prayers, dear saints.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

No Notes

busy... busy... busy...

No street preaching reports, dear readers. It rained last night and I was over my head in home renovations.

Hope to be back at it next week!

God bless.

Rand