Battle Log
Sunday, 2 July, 2023
Posted 2 July 2023, 3:01 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink
A full week of street outreach this week. Roger was with me on Tuesday in Riccarton. Roger, Andy and myself on Friday in the City. I was in Riccarton on Saturday. And then Mike joined me in the City on Sunday afternoon.
The forecast for Tuesday was for rain in the evening. Roger was keen to get out, and so we did! But sadly, the rain came early. I didn’t bother with my flipchart, hoping to steal chats with people in sheltered spots.
But the outreach was worth it! I managed to get into a short chat with three young high school students. One of them took the lead in the talking, but another one of them seemed to be soaking in the gospel. But, thinking of the talker, he started out very agnostic, and so I was surprised to learn he was actually a church goer. It’s a reminder that we need to keep the gospel, front and centre in our churches and our family devotion times.
We had a couple of Police officers come on the scene. But thankfully it wasn’t because of Roger or I. A homeless lady has been camping in Riccarton (I think I’ve mentioned her in previous reports), and she has taken up residence where we do outreach. It turns out people have been laying complaints, and so the Police want her to move on. But she won’t. Even in the rain, she is sleeping on the sidewalk (pictured). It’s so sad. There are no simple solutions to issues like this. You can’t help people that don’t want it. I’ll pick this thread up again later in the report.
The rain became heavy, and so Roger and I decided to finish up the outreach early.
Friday’s outreach was amazing. All 3 of us had stellar gospel conversations. Roger had a young couple go to tears on him (in a good way). And Andy had a lady go to tears as well - although she was a Christian, tearing up about how good God is! He is indeed!
I went for a wander, and ended up encountering a young man outside the KFC on Colombo Street. He seemed primed for the chat. He was down from Auckland visiting family, and he had time on his hands. He’d gone to a Catholic school, and believed in heaven and hell. But not surprisingly he was trusting in his works for salvation. He heard the law, and then the gospel, and then we worked through the suite of check questions I normally use. He kept getting them wrong, but each time it was just a learning opportunity for him. He really seemed to come to grasp the gospel through it, and he seemed genuinely stoked by it. He lived in Southern Auckland, and so I pointed him to South City Reformed Baptist Church and gave him a gospel of John. What a joy to be able to deliver the good news of Jesus!
There were other great chats, including one Andy & I teamed up with a couple of kids walking past. And at the end of the outreach I had a wonderful five minute chat with a young man who also seemed primed and ready. The chat finished just as his friend came from a shop and was ready to move on.
It really felt like people were praying for us on Friday, so if you were, thank you! And please keep us in your prayers! This ministry will be ineffective without the power of Spirit, through the prayers of the Saints!
Saturday was bright and sunny. The homeless lady was still there (yes, I know her name). And so I set up my flip chart on the other side of the street. I had some good chats, including with a soldier and his friend, and tracts were distributed. But I kept thinking of the homeless lady, she was sitting in the sun, and seemed to be having a conversation with herself, but then she lay down on her bedding and went to sleep, eventually flicking the top blanket over her head (pictured). But before she did that, I went over to her side of the street to hand out tracts, and I was able to say hello. She was friendly in response. That’s good, ice broken. Next time I see her, I’ll try engaging more, and see if she is open to conversation. Since she was asleep when I left, I left a gospel tract for her, beside her soft toy.
Sunday was sunny, but bitterly cold. It was like the wind was running over ice! I focused on tracts and conversations at the corner of Colombo and Cashel. The JW’s took the sunny side, so I took the other!
When Mike turned up, he had something new with him! He has been designing a new flipchart stand - well, God has been designing. His design didn’t work, but amazingly, the very thing that was breaking his design, ended up being the very thing that made a stable stand (when used in a different way)! God is sovereign!
Mike set up the stand, and had the honour of getting into the first chat with it (pictured). While that was happening, other people started stopping to look at what was happening (pictured), and so I was able to get into a good conversation with them. I’ve been using the flip chart for years, and it’s such a powerful tool.
Well, that’s a wrap for another week. This morning, I processed a few Instagram direct messages. At the time, we had over 450 unread messages, and nearly 70 new message requests. Each one is a gospel conversation. We now have 8 people working to share the gospel with all these people. The online gospel opportunity (needGod.net) that God has blessed us with is amazing, and we get to point every one of them to a local church. And it’s very apparent where in the world more local churches are needed. We need more pastors / missionaries to be raised up to plant churches in these locations. The job is not complete! Till the nets are full, go serve your King!
