Battle Log

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Okay, last week's monthly report was a bit crazy, trying to dump all the chats from the last month into a single hour-long report.  So, I’m going to try going back to weekly reports.  This report will cover the street work for the week just completed.

 

I was on the streets of Christchurch four times this week:

 

On Thursday afternoon, Corin joined me at the corner of Riccarton and Rotherham (and Roger and Graeme were also there on Tuesday afternoon).

 

On Friday afternoon, Corin, Andy, Roger, John Langan, and I were in the city.

 

On Saturday lunchtime, Corin joined me again at the corner of Riccarton and Rotherham.

 

And then finally, I went back out to the city this afternoon (Sunday) after my local church's morning gathering.

 

On Thursday, it was a bit slow initially, and then very busy.  I had a long chat with a young Muslim (but it started as a conversation with a group), and Corin was handling the flip chart on her own while that was happening.

 

The young Muslim started by saying he would go to heaven because he had asked for forgiveness.  That obviously doesn’t make sense, so I gently pushed back, which caused him to become very engaged in the conversation.

 

The key issue is that we both agree God is just, and we both agree that God is merciful.  So the question that has to be answered is, how can God be both just and merciful toward us (at the same time) so we can go to heaven?

 

Sadly, the young man kept going back to the same answer over and over: “You simply ask for forgiveness; God can overlook sin if he wants to, because he is God”.  The problem with this answer is that it is merciful, but it’s not just.  And so, the correct answer is: “Jesus died on the cross to satisfy our justice, so that God gives us mercy without compromising his justice”.

 

And the fact that he kept cycling back to his logically incorrect answer is because that’s what he has been told over and over, to the point that he has suppressed the logic we all share.  I had to gently end the conversation, pointing out the dead-end cycle.  May he be challenged enough to be humble and honest about the logic.  The goal is not winning arguments, but lovingly having people face the truth.  May God have mercy on this young man!

 

We finished the outreach with a great chat with a young Filipino with a Christian background, but who didn't fully understand the gospel.  It was interesting because he noticed us as he went past, but he didn’t want to stop to talk. A few minutes later, he came back around the corner to talk!  God must have been tugging at his heart!

 

On Friday, Corin was with me at the corner of Cashel and Colombo.  We set up the flipchart.  Very quickly, we encountered two young, and very encouraging men.  They had a very solid grasp of the gospel, and they were passionate about sharing it.  One of them in particular was especially naturally evangelistic.

 

They stayed with us for a very long time as we got to know each other, and, as we were talking, people kept coming up to the flipchart, interested in what was happening, and so multiple real gospel conversations occurred naturally.

 

It fills my heart with joy to know the Holy Spirit is working independently of me (I mean, it’s obvious, but still), raising labourers for his glory.  I would love to work more with these young men, but that’s not up to me.  May God bless their effort!

 

Saturday was amazing!  So busy!  I set up my flipchart, and was pretty much straight into my first chat.

 

It was with a young man whose father uses a similar flipchart evangelism technique in another part of the country.  But, sadly, this young man was lacking assurance.  And it turns out he was subtly confused about what it means to ‘repent’.  He defined it as ‘turn from sin’, and when I asked him more questions, it seemed that he was defining that as, basically, ‘be good’.  So, we were able to talk this through and get everything in the right place: knowledge of Christ vs trusting Christ vs obedience to Christ.  The first and the last are so important, but don’t save - it’s critical that we get this right in our thinking.  Salvation leads to works, but works are not required for salvation.  The young man took out his phone at one point to take notes!  May he see his sin as serious, but that the grace of God is greater.  May he come to know the true assurance he can have.

 

I had three more great chats.  And then I encountered a young couple.  She has a Christian background, but my gentle check questions concerned me about her understanding of the gospel.  He wasn’t a Christian, but had tried going to a church last Sunday (I think via her prompting).  The conversation was delicate at the start, as I expected them to bolt at any moment, but gradually the conversation warmed, and then I was able to get them to come to the flipchart so we could have a full gospel conversation, which was wonderful, because I could tell they were both learning.  If they truly come to Christ, then I suspect they will have some tough decisions to make out of a desire to be obedient as a result.  But what a precious opportunity to minister.

 

Sunday’s outreach was slow, in spite of the good weather and there being lots of people.  I couldn’t get any bites for a conversation.  So, I decided to go for a wander and approach people for chats as I went.  I got 1 rejection, and then I found myself in Cathedral Square.  There was a young man relaxing, and I felt drawn to him.  I offered a tract, and was welcomed.  It was a very non-standard chat.  He was a little cryptic in his answers, so I decided to take it slow, listen hard, and wait for the right time to comment.  I was able to touch on the law and then focus on the gospel.  At one point, he became emotional as he reflected on his life – again, it was cryptic, he was saying things that hinted at something deeper that he didn’t want to reveal.  It was a good chat, and he received a couple of tracts, but then handed them back.  He said he already understood and that I should give them to someone else.  I’d rather he keep them, but I respected his wishes.  Seed planted?  Only God knows.

 

May he use our feeble efforts for his glory!  Thank you for your prayers!!

 

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For the month of May, I decided to write short notes of my most memorable chats on the streets so that I would remember to write about them in this report.  I’ve ended up with about 25 notes!  I’m not going to be able to write about all of them in this short report.  So, what I’m going to do is drop the whole list into this report, so you can get a feel for what I got up to on the streets for the month, and I’ll expand on some of them.  Here goes:

 

Saturday, 6th of June, in Riccarton, Corin was with me; she is new to street outreach, and she has a passion for it!  She gives out gospel tracts with pure delight in her eyes.  Such an encouragement.  Since Corin is new, I had my flipchart with me.  We started with prayer, and then we set up the chart. She mentioned, “We don’t have tracts yet”, so I turned to my bag to get some when I noticed that Corin was talking to someone.  I turned back, and a guy was standing right in front of the flip chart.  He had obviously just turned the corner and was instantly attracted by the flip chart.

 

I took control of the chat and used the flip chart, involving Corin, to take this young man through the gospel presentation.  It was like I was talking to a blank canvas, in the sense that they didn’t have any pre-conceived ideas that I had to correct.  When he heard the gospel for the first time, I got a visual reaction, which showed that it had clicked in his thinking – what a joy!  But we didn’t stop there, we moved into check questions, and very quickly it became clear that his thinking had moved to adding Jesus to good works for salvation: “Jesus does most of it, but we still have to be good to get to heaven”.  So, I went back to the gospel, and used the speeding ticket analogy: “If a friend pays your whole speeding ticket for you, how much left do you have to pay?”  “Right, none, same with Jesus, if he pays for all your sins, how much left do you have to pay in hell?”  I think the gospel re-clicked in his thinking at that point.

 

During the chat, there was a moment where a couple of tears escaped from an eye – tears?  I don’t know, but I know this young man was impacted, at the very least.  He took 2 kinds of tract, but didn’t take the Gospel of John I offered.  That chat filled me with such joy!

 

Thursday, 4th June, in Riccarton: chat with 2 Afghan girls

 

Thursday, 4th June, in Riccarton: chat with Jimmy, a teen kid walking past

 

Thursday, 4th June, in Riccarton: 4 people outside the yogurt shop: this chat was special, because 1 guy engaged in the chat and I was able to labour with him about grace (it’s amazing how long it can take for this concept to really sink in).

 

Thursday, 4th June, in Riccarton: 2 CBHS (Christchurch Boys High School)  guys at the bus stop - amazing chat.  These guys had Christian backgrounds, and we had a special 15 minutes together working through the tension of faith & works.

 

Sunday, 31st May, in the City: 2 kids - never thought about it before

 

Saturday, 30th May, in Riccarton: chat with 3 kids with a connection to Kaiapoi Baptist

 

Friday, 29th May, in the City: a young man with a Catholic background, but with a very Eastern worldview.  Hard chat, but he took a copy of John

 

Friday, 29th May, in the City: a chat with 3 girls from Parklands

 

Thursday, 28th May, in Riccarton: 17yo, Riccarton High student, had heard the gospel through YouTube, struggling with anger and anxiety, and lacking assurance.  A long chat after which I invited him to church.

 

Friday, 22nd May, in the City: 2 Mormon missionaries, long chat

 

Thursday, 21st May, in Riccarton: Asian couple - great chat.  Took a copy of John

 

Thursday, 21st May, in Riccarton: Regular Muslim we see - great follow-up chat, challenged him on how God can be just and merciful at the same time?  (Christianity has a logical answer.)

 

Saturday, 16th May, in Riccarton: 5 orthodox kids - 2 guys talking, a girl challenged, 2 guys that said nothing.  This was a great chat, where we talked about PSA and Christus Victor (atonement theories).

 

Friday, 15th May, in the City: Indian Orthopedic surgeon from Brunei.  Good deeds for heaven.  This chat was special; he took a tract, and I noticed him sitting down and reading it carefully after our brief chat.

 

Friday, 15th May, in the City: group of kids, some of whom I had talked to in Riccarton before - they showed respect

 

Friday, 15th May, in the City: 2 young men from Motuaka - great chat.

 

Friday, 15th May, in the City: Older Englishman: very resistant.

 

Sunday, 10th May in the City: Mother's Day.  slow and cold, a few tracts and a half chat before heading home

 

Saturday, 9th May in Riccarton: slowish.  Chat with people trying to avoid the truth under the banner of peace.  Another chat with a guy and his girlfriend.  He didn't like the building builder analogy.

 

Friday, 8th May, in the City: Long deep chat with a guy - took John.

 

Friday, 8th May, in the City: Chat with 2 guys cnr Colombo and Cashel

 

Thursday, 7th May in Riccarton: A long chat with an intellectual.

 

Thursday, 7th May in  Riccarton: A kid who knew my name! He talked to me 2 years ago in the city.  He didn't want to go through it again! Haha.  He said he gave the tract I gave him to his brother, who likes to collect Chick tracts!?  I gave him another to give to his brother for the collection.

 

Thursday, 7th May, in Riccarton: Guy from Papua New Guinea - became an SDA, but didn't understand the gospel, not really 'religious'.  Heard the gospel, pointed to the Bible.

 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday June 3rd 2026 from 1030-1130

Hurrah, Peace rejoined the Sunnybank team after a long gap year since their family moved from North to south to start a new way of living. It was also a great pleasure to have Ann rejoining us at Sunnybank. Peace asked for prayer to give her boldness after a long break and God answered our prayer to make her a fisher of men having many chats opportunities and even leading to chance of recommending non-beleivers to attend SIC where she is now a regular members. As for me, my focus was initially dragged to keep an eyes on Peace, and let go after she was obviously finding her feet in God's strength. I have conversation with both non-believers, Chrisitians without assurance of salvation and fair dinkum Christians. It was always a joy to serve and live a life on mission with God.

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong on Tuesday JUne 2nd from 1030 - 1200

I did a breif outreach at Toowong as I had to rush to a lunch meeting with the Princiapl and Vice Principal of the Chinese Theological College Australia based in Sydney.

I caught up with a mature student from Solomom Island who claimed himseld a Christian. Upon asking the two diagnosis question. He basically have the righ answer to show him having 100$ assurance of salvation becasue of Jesus and His Sacrifsicial death on the cross alone. I manged to take a selfie with him but unfortunately, I might have pressed the wrong button that ending up without the photo taken.

Anyhow, I made several shorter chat becuse of the frequent bus schedule and had sdone for the day earlier toallow me to rush to my aforementioned lunch appointment.

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday May 27th 2026 from 1030-1130

Today, teamed up with Edwin to do street outreach in Sunnybank. Edwin exceptionally had a long chat with a seekers from China who has been affiliating with a Catholic priest. So Edwin spent a long time to brief him the salvation by faith doctrine against the old tradition of Catholic biased teaching.

As for me, had a couple of good and long chat with a Taiwanese student who was approached by our team before. I did a thorough follow up recap which proved to be very useful for that guy to understand it is a common need of each and very one of this fallen human races. That Jesus is the only one to make us perfect again meaning our record of sins has been set to zero the moment we accepted Him as our Savior. Then I had another long chat with a Chinese face Filipino of Catholic background. He also failed the assurance of salvation test but was glad to have it clarified giving me a thumb up for my explanation. There were many more shorter or scattered chats but still serving God's purpose for that particular persons.

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong on Tuesday May 26th from 1030 - 1200

The weather was still unstable, but as usual God stop the rain with a wet ground but Sunshine when I got to Toowong. Today was special for a couple of people from UK that I could conveniently associate with by my extensive UK experience including frequent business trip, family visit to my Sister at Oxford at that time , and finally my one odd year full time study of Master if Information System at UMIST Manchester. Actually I was led to Christ in Manchester in 1990. So, chatting with people from UK helped me build quick rapport with them.

First was an UQ student from Essex county, he is a non-believer yet he believes in God, but falling short ti comprehend the concept of triune god. He actually has extensive study of Bible, my chat with him apart from sharing first the gospel that all human needs Jesus at long as we admit we are not perfect. He is a genuine seekers having a list of question from hus bible reading. I thanks God to help him clarified many biblical questions. He from all angle would soon be ready to accept Jesus as his savor.

The other guy was in total opposite, a guy from Wales but of African background, who grew up i na background of abuse and chaos. He deems all religious are humanly founded full of corruption as such he bluntly reject to ket me share gospel with him. I anyway still was moved to connect as a equal human being counter part to exchange life experiences. God is good and he is always in control.

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 Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday May 20th 2026 from 1030-1130

The weather turned sunny finally. It was an amazing outreach. For the first time ,God moved a Chinese Girl to approach me while I had just started sharing with another Vietnamese girl sitting next to her. They do not know each other. But the Chinese girl was so eager to listen on while I share the gospel with the Vietnamese girl. It was a pity she had to leave first. As for the Vietnamese girl, she said she is now studying the Bible by her self, a sincere seekers. I shared 90 % just falling short of the final wrap up when her bus arrived. She genuinely wish to meet me next week and let pray for this to happen.

OI also approached a couples others who wer all open and receptive. Praise be to the Lord

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong on Tuesday May 19 from 1030 - 1200

It was an overcast day with intermittent scattered rain. Yet as usual, I was well protected under God's promise to be with me whenever I set oof to serve him as such, God closed the window of the sky withholding rain throughout the whole time I was serving on the street and even covering my lap swimming afterwards.

Two chats stood out. It were with an Australian born Indonesian cross breed and with a Thailand student with Indian blood. Both are non-Christians possibly muslim and Buddhist respectively, but both were open and receptive to the gospel especially the way i approach the issue of the gospel that as long as we all admit no one including ourselves are perfect, then by definition, we all have been disqualified to regain the citizenship of the heavenly kingdom. Only way is to rely on a perfect person which can only be Jesus to take our place to received the eternal death punishment. The moment we accepted Jesus as Savior, our sins are pardoned and set to zero making us a perfect and new creation to be qualified immediately to be reaccepted into His Kingdom.

God is good and is gracious to elect non-believers of other religions to be attracted to Jesus.

The message of one of the LCD screen "Own the Unknown" also resonate with God's way to move those non-believers to "own the unknown."

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday May 13th 2026 from 1030-1130

Hurrah, we had got the biggest team since pandemic at Sunnybank with 4 people from Joce Meyer Minisatry team and from SM Kairos team with Edwin and me. Ann may have come but the rain might have prevented her to cross over the pedestrian bridge to come to our side. Also the Great Commision Church folk originally planned to come but did not turn up. No matter what 6 or 7 serving as one body in Christ is something we can celebrate and praise with thanks giving.

Errol is the first timer to Sunnybank, or even for street outreach. We prayed and encouraged him to take the first step of faith to make an approach to anyone around. He actually had a very good start, making good connection and having some chat. I was moved to back him up to do follow up chat with some he approached. His first timer status to share gopel to stranger boldly really impressed some of the gospel targets. So, it is the life witnessing power apart from proclaming by words.

It was yet again a team effort of street outreach full of grace and power bestowed on each and every one of us who did His work.

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong on Tuesday May 12 from 1030 - 1200

After two weeks of rest because of other important commitment, I resume the normal weekly outreach ministry at Toowong. Hope John will rejoin me soon after he has just finished his cross oceans cruise ship tours.

I have got three full chat divine appointments with young non-believer man from USA, than a local Aussie Christian and an Australian born India of different attitude and response. The one from USA, might have been affected by the general leftist mindset that have seriously poisoned the younger generation of USA, appear indifference to the gospel though still with politeness to let me finish the entire sharing. Then the local Aussie Christian, a very warm welcoming character to have interactive chat with me, was found not having 100% assurance of salvation but was clarified with appreciation. Last but not the least. The ABI though claimed to be of Hinduism family heritage, appear most open and receptive to the gospel and affirm that every one including himself need Jesus. Earthly region is just a sort fo cultural expression to divine creator being and all he needs to do is to accept Jesus as his personal savior. God will guide his way to live a born again Christian life with many Indian Christian Church around.

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