Battle Log

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Another wonderful week of gospel outreach.  I’ve just got back from Sunday afternoon’s street outreach in the city.  So I’ll start from there and work back in time.

So, today’s outreach was busy.  And we had a small evangelism revival with a team of 5 out!  Andy, Mike, Susan, Binu and myself.  So I praise God for that to start with.

So yeah, many chats are tough.  Most people ignore you.  Or if they engage, they are resistant in various ways.  But when you are prayerful, patient, polite and persistent (hey, Jason, look I got 4 P’s!) then you will get into amazing gospel chats.  (Jason is one of my pastors - hey, pastor starts with P too!  Haha).

And so, my last chat of the week was one of those.  Binu had handed a tract to a Muslim lady, and her daughter (they were wearing head coverings and she later confirmed that she was a Muslim).  When they came past me, I said, “Hey, that comes with a question if you have a moment”.  To my surprise she came over and was keen to chat (Susan was with me).  And so, I started by finding out where she was at.  She thought there was a heaven, but no hell.  And so, going from there, I was able to gently work them through how we know there must be hell, the bad news of the law, and then into the good news.  I was expecting her to buck when I explained about Jesus - but she didn’t, she was very interested.  At this point, Susan pulled out a gospel of John with the fireball pictures on the cover.  We used that to go over the gospel again.  We offered it to her to keep, and she said she would read it.  It was an amazing chat!  We exchanged names, and found out about where they came from.  I could tell she had many questions, but now wasn’t a time to start addressing them.  But I invited them to my church (I gave them a contact card with my details), and I explained that she would be welcome to listen and ask as many questions as she liked.  As they left, I turned to Susan, and we prayed for them.  I felt so honoured to be able to share the wonderful news of Jesus with them.  God is so good!

I had two other great chats.  Both of them were with groups of teenage girls.  Sadly I was reminded that it was spring (it was a lovely warm day), because these girls were really not dressed appropriately.  As I spoke to them, I had to keep my head up and my eyes fixed on their faces.

One of the girls was an atheist, “because my Dad died”.  It turns out he died in the Canterbury earthquakes, in a building that collapsed next door to the building I was in!  I was able to identify with her in that I’ve lost my Dad too.  And so going from there, the conversation was able to progress.  She was suspicious of me, and asked if I was paid to do what I do - which I am.  And so I was able to honestly address that.  Slowly she started to open up, I guess she could understand that my motives were right or something?  She came to understand that just because there is evil and suffering, that it still makes sense that God is real.  And then I was able to explain why we can have hope for eternal life.  She also accepted a gospel of John, as did one of her friends.  As they left, I prayed for them also.

The other chat was with 2 girls holding hands.  So I wondered, and yet that issue never came up.  It was a fairly textbook gospel chat.  They came to understand the gospel after a couple of checks.  At one point there was some gentle resistance, but it went away as I continued to work through check questions.

On Saturday, although the weather was good, I decided not to go to Riccarton for my usual street outreach, as I wanted to catch up on the TikTok direct messages.  I had a great chat with someone who would grasp the gospel, but kept slipping back to ‘works’ as I went through the checks, because “It’s too good to be true”.  I had to slow down to labour with them.  I ended up by getting them to read Romans 3, 4 & 5.  I’m looking forward to continuing that conversation.

On Friday, we were in the city as usual.  Roger, Andy, and myself.  I had a great chat with 2 guys, one of whom was French.  But the main speaker was a Kiwi.  He was resistant, and so I spent a fair amount of time talking about ‘who is God’.  I could see that he was following along with the reasoning.  And I didn’t give him an inch - it would only reinforce his suppression of what he knows about the God that he knows exists.  It was interesting watching his French friend, who I could tell was seeing clearly what I was saying.  They both heard the law and the gospel, and checks.  It was great seeing the Kiwi grasp the gospel when he said, “but then someone could then just go out and sleep with prostitutes”.  And so I was able to follow up with the fireman analogy and why the gospel actually has the opposite effect.  I pleaded with them to repent.  They are in God’s hands.

I also had a great chat with a young man who had atheist parents, and yet went to a local Christian school - actually, the same school where my local church meets.  I can’t remember the details of that chat (it was fairly standard), but at one point I remember him exclaiming (positively) as the meaning started to sink in.  Great chat.

On Tuesday, Julia (my daughter) and Roger were with me in Riccarton.  Before Julia and I had even finished setting up the flip chart, we were into a great chat with 3 people.  And it was really busy for the next 1.5 hours.  But it was cold, and so the last half hour was slow.

Julia had a great opportunity to share the gospel with a couple of girls (pictured).

Ah, I love my job!  I would gladly do this for free.  The gospel blows me away, firstly that I’m saved from hell, and 2ndly the privilege I have to see the power of the gospel in action with those I talk to.

Oh, I just remembered another great chat I had with 2 guys today.  They both made professions of faith.  One of them in particular, looked at me and thanked me, as he grasped the simplicity of the amazing message I was sharing.

All glory to God alone.  Oh, how I want Jesus to return today, and yet how I am so glad for God’s patience and the privilege in being able to proclaim his mercy! Long may it continue.

Join me!  Join me!  It’s so good!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday Sep 6th, 2023 from 1300-1500

Today, again the Sunnybank team reduced to just having Johnny and Hung to serve. Basically, both of us had many long meaningful and fruitful conversations. I had an over 45 minutes chat with a Korean Chistian lady. She received Christ here on Brisbane and is pursuing her spiritual growth by associating with Power to Change in UQ. Her understand of faith is spot on that we are saved by grace through faith, but her understanding of assurance of salvation was off the mark having only 95% instead of 100%. It triggered a series of Q & A in theology and surprisingly she is well verses in many theological propositions. She was appreciative for having such a deep chat of the Bible and asked for a selfie with me in hope that God may lead us to meet somehow, somewhere in the future. Apart from this climatic divine encounter, I had other fruitful gospel sharing with non-believers especially those from mainland as recap below in the Battle Log.

0) Before we started at Sunnybank, I caught up with Sammuel a Chrisitan lay worker of BCCCC and has started his business to run a Japanese style Cafe at the Sunnybank Hill. Pray for Chrisitan witness in his secular work.

1) God moved me to catch up with Jenny from Korea and is a student of UQ having affiliation with power to change in the Campus. Pray that our apologetic discussion on many theological issues would help driving her to dig deep in her understanding of God's Will and Calling for her.

2) Hassel is an Australian born young girl with mixed blood of Greece and Spain. She was very friendly and showed willingness to listen to the gospel message. Pray that the tract she took will help her to revise the message leading her a step closer to final conversion as Chrisitan.

3)Two Mainlanders rejected politely

4) Repeatedly rejection by green lady and man in blue.

5) Roy an European look Filipino, thought I am a JW but seemingly his theology is not sound enough to discern the pure Christian faith. He anyway claimed he only uphold teaching in NT but not OT. I barely had time to follow on and clarified that it was not the problem of OT, just The Sect of Judaism that still denied Jesus is the Messiah.

6) Then I had a long chat with a Hkg’s lady who has come more than 30 years but still has no time to hear about the gospel. She has very few if not non-Christian friend. But she was very polite to hear the full gospel.

7) A young lady from Jiangxi who is an UQ student of Finance. Perhaps because she was in full mask and with sun glass as such she was basically not recognizable. She listened to the full gospel with great interest which again was rare in mainlanders. Pray for God's follow up work in her heart.

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday September 5th, 2023 from 1330 – 1500

Today we again had Johnny, Chi Ming and Hung to team up to do street outreach at Toowong despite Chi Ming was not in his best shape. At the end, he still stayed for the whole time demonstrating his faith and love of God could help overcoming his unwellness.

It was also an eventful day with mixed experiences of very open and receptive smooth & fruitful sharing, but in the meantime, there was also blunt rejection or even self-righteous intervention by some bystander, attacking my gospel outreach work and PUA my gospel target to reject me. In flesh, I of course felt outraged, but in Spirit, I must repent and pray for that ignorant self- righteous guy that God will still not give him up and send someone else to reach out to him at another better time. Recap below is my Battle Log.

1) I was moved to approach two Indonesian UQ students from Surabaya. I was mistaken they tried to refrain from talking to me to clear some room in the shaded area behind the bus stand. They actually welcomed me to squeeze in sharing the shaded. So, once this was clarified, we clicked well and they appeared friendly and open to the gospel. They took tract to read to show they are not hardliner Islamic advocate. Pray for God amazing work to move their hearts.

2) Eclipse an Indian UQ student doing IT study. He also was very open and receptive to the full gospel I shared with him and took a tract to ponder for his next step of faith.

3) Then I was moved to approach a young man Huang from Guangzhou who recognized my accent and asked me to switch to Cantonese. Actually, his initial attitude was not to bother him by showing the budda necklace. I first acknowledge that all religions are good but not addressing the issue of sin. I further pointed out to him that Buddhism is actually not a religion as it does not have a God head to worship. He was amazed to learn such thing from me as such I earned my chance to keep sharing to him the full gospel. I anyhow chose a winding path to start sharing my salvation testimony but it works good to get him identify with my past as a non-religious and self-righteous good person. He took both English and Chinese tract to read.

4) Then miraculously God led an Aussie girl. I thought she was waiting for the bus , but actually she got into the shaded area for texting after she got off the bus. She also appeared very delighted to have a chat with me and at the end, could not agree more about the gospel that she is good but not perfect as such she need Jesus. She only sought to leave for the Toowong village, after I finished the chat.

5) Next, I was moved to catch up with Cliffe from Townville. He also showed great openness and receptiveness to the gospel message and promised to ponder for the next step of faith to accept Jesus. I took a photo with him hoping I can recognize him in future to follow up on his decision.

6) Then I approached a Chinese girl with hair dyed completely gold in colour. She was a bit shy but dis not reject me to chat with her. But after a long while, I was interrupted by possibly a Malaysian English-speaking self -righteous young man to threaten me to stop otherwise he will call the police. He also PUA the girl to ask her if she still want to continue conversation with me. I just told her, if you really did not feel good to have a chat, you simply told me and we did not need a third person to interfere our normal friendly chat. That certainly is part of the spiritual warfare we will face for serving God.

7) Then I turned to another Chinese student who said he got a tract before. . I anyway still revised the main point before his bus arrived.

8 ) Redelbel is a lovely local Brisbane girl with sunshine on her face. She is all good for the gospel message and thanks for my sharing ending our joyful conversation with a selfie picture.

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What a wonderful week.  There is limitless gospel opportunity on the streets of Christchurch.  And if you live in a city, I’m sure it’s the same for you!  Can I encourage you to join me, or, if you don’t live in Christchurch, start a street outreach where you are.  Just pick a street corner that has a flow of people.  It doesn’t have to be super busy.  Smile, and ask people as they go past: “Hey, I’ve got a question for you, it’s a deep one.  What do you think happens after you die?”.  Sure, it’s direct, and some people might be a bit shocked.  If they don’t want to talk about it.  All good, just wish them a good day and let them move on.  But, you’ll be amazed at how many people actually do want to talk about this important question.  Here is how my week went.

So, all four usual street outreaches went ahead.  Julia (my daughter) and Roger were with me in Riccarton on Tuesday afternoon.  Andy, Dom, and a newbie Mark joined me on Friday in the city.  I was in Riccarton again on Saturday lunchtime.  And finally, I’ve just come from the city where Susan joined me.

I’ll start with Tuesday.  Julia is going to join me on an evangelism trip to the Philippines in a couple of weeks, and to get back up to speed she joined me for this outreach.  We got there early, and the outreach was so busy we ended up leaving late!  At the end, I was packing away the flip chart, when yet another person wanted to engage, and so I put the flip chart back up again!  It was worth it.

After the outreach, Roger sent me this comment: “Was so good today.  So much fun it should be illegal!”.  That’s right, evangelism is fun!  We can’t let Christians have fun now, can we?  NOT!  Let’s get out there and enjoy sharing the wonderful good news of the gospel!

Anyway, Julia was paired up with me, and I ended up needing to control the conversations, and I didn’t want to drop her in the deep end, so I fielded the first few chats.  But eventually Julia got into her own chat (pictured).  She was doing well, but ended up pulling me in.  The guy had atheistic parents, but there was a hunger in his eyes for truth.  The building / builder analogy made sense to him, and opened him up to hear the law and the gospel.  He made a profession of faith, and so I gave him a gospel of John, which he gladly received, and a contact card for my church with my contact details on it.  Sadly, he didn’t get in touch, and yet seeds have been sown!

Friday was hot!  The first day of spring, and there was enough intensity in the sun that I didn’t need my jacket or jersey on, and I even applied sunscreen!  Andy was paired with Mark initially, and then he was paired with Dom later.  I ran a flipchart.

The stand out conversation of the day was with a couple of Chinese girls.  One had okay English, the other not as good.  But they both became engaged.  So much so that the one started translating for the other.  Eventually they pulled out phones and started using Google Translate.  I did the same.  The first question was: ‘there must be aliens’ (or something like that).  I responded with: ‘where did the aliens come from?’  Answer: ‘planets’.  Question: ‘where did the planets come from’?  Answer: ‘big bang’.  Question: ‘where did the materials for the big bang come from?’  And that made them pause, it made sense, there must be a universe maker.  I then transitioned to take them through a few simple law questions.  And at this point we moved back to speaking instead of Google Translate.  They agreed they would be guilty, and so at this point I pulled out my gospel of John with the fireball pictures front and back.  Using these pictures, and a couple of easy questions, I was able to communicate the gospel.  Suddenly one of the girls had a visible penny drop moment.  She said, “Ahh”, as the message hit home.  And do you know what her response was?  “I live in Auckland, is there a group I can join?”  I was amazed, she was articulating a desire to join the church!  I got her to message needgod.net7 on Instagram “Church in Auckland”.  And then on Saturday morning I was able to respond by pointing her to a church in Auckland that’s close to her (central Auckland).  Attached is a picture showing her response.

I will continue the conversation with her via Instagram DM, re-checking her gospel understanding and working through the checks.  But I really hope she reaches out to the church!  Evangelism apart from the church makes no sense.  You 2 things go together (the church reaches out to make disciples).

What a joy!  It’s so much fun getting to bring the message of life!

I had a number of other chats: including with another couple of Chinese girls - these were tourists.

Saturday’s outreach was good, again good weather.  I had a young man remember me from the recent Malvern A&P Show outreach.  I was able to have a follow up gospel conversation with him.  And that reminds me, one of the chats on Tuesday was with William.  I first talked to him at the Ellesmere A&P Show.  It’s so good being able to follow up with people!

Saturday’s outreach ended up finishing with a discussion with a Christian couple.  I was able to encourage them in regards to assurance.  It’s possible there wasn’t 100% clarity on the gospel, and so I was able to share it, and many check questions by talking in the third person.  I encouraged them to join the evangelism training I’ll be running in October.

Sunday was cold, and yet there was no lack of gospel opportunity.  Once Susan joined me, we did some walk up.  One conversation in particular was very special.  I noticed a lady sitting eating a pie.  She obviously worked in the city and was on a break.  For that reason I didn’t think she’d want to talk.  But it doesn’t hurt to ask.  Well, to my surprise she did want to talk.  She completely forgot her pie (looked like she had only had one bite so far) as she became engrossed in the conversation.  Her question was around the issue of ‘evil and suffering’.  I could tell the question wasn’t intellectual, and so I didn’t give an intellectual answer.  Instead, I let her talk as she processed some hard things in her life.  By God’s grace, I was able to communicate the law and the gospel (that there will be justice for evil, and yet a sure hope of mercy).  She asked for a pamphlet, and so I could tell the conversation held a lot of meaning for her (she opened up about some difficult stuff).  I even gave her a church contact card, with my contact details.  I’m hopeful that she will get in touch, and even if she doesn’t, some powerful seeds were planted.  Pray that it has found good soil!  She had to go back to work.  But after she left, Susan and I prayed for her.  I was so touched by that chat.  What an honour!  What an honour to be able to minister hope to her and others.  I’m in awe of our great God that involves us in what he is doing!  Join me.  The harvest field is limitless.

I’m totally out of time.  But the only work is amazing as ever.  We have up to 1800 unread messages on Instagram.  And we have well over half a million followers on TikTok.  We are hearing wonderful testimonies of what God is doing through the power of the gospel.  All glory to God.  May we stay humble and dependant on him, open to correction, and faithful to continue the ministry.  Please pray for us!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday Aug 30th, 2023 from 1300-1500

Praise be to God that Edwin Qin Hao could rejoin us after his past busy week in completing assignments for his Theological study. It was a pity Pastor Amy Yao could not join us due ad hoc illness of her son. The team of three worked productively reaching to many people with divine guidance of team work to follow up on some of the keen pursuer of faith. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung:-

0) Today outreach actually started at the swimming pool with Adrain, a lap swimming mate. I shared a lot of the gospel and my testimony with him lately and he obviously has been moved to identify with the Christian faith more firmly. Another common thing between us is our younger looking appearance despite we are both 71 years old this year. Apart from regular sport to keep fit, my action faith is a major cause accountable for the ageless spirit to keep myself active in serving God. It gives Adrain a very valuable example to follow.

1) First I approached a Han Chinese with look of minor tribe from Henan , we engaged very well on thing lately happening in his home town He was opened to chat about religious thing but time was too short due to his bus arrival. He took both Chinese and English tract anyway.

2) Then I Followed up on a lady who was approached by Edwin and received a tract. Since she was still waiting so I reinforced for her the nutshell of the Gospel before her bus really arrived.

3) Then I connected with a Bolivia young man with limited English. I still managed to shared the nutshell of the Gospel and gave him the tract to read.

4) Jesse is an ABC girl not so sure about her family's country of origin though most possibly is still mainland China. Only shared half of the Gospel with an English tract.

5) Then I bumped in a young man Zhang ? from Hangzhou , he also got a tract from Edwin but I was moved to reinforce the gospel message to him before the bus arrived.

6) Kue, a rare Vietnamese Christian, who has 100% of assurance of salvation but she could not give clear reason just claiming her assurance is from her personal relationship with God which is not wrong. I anyway articulated the simple reason is that eternal life has been liked a free gift from Jesus not earned and deserved by us. Because of His atoning grace, we are saved by grace through faith to be able to reconcile with God receiving the heavenly citizenship right away the moment we accepted Jesus as our Salvation.

7) Cross cultural girl with blood of UK Germany, France. She comes and goes to have family reunion with other relatives at each other’s home on rotation. She is very open and clever but not time for a chat just passing her the tract.

8 ) Then Johnny referred to me a woman from Guangzhou to have a long chat as we switched back to Cantonese. I shared my testimony of salvation to her that had drawn great interest in her heart to pursuit the best free gift of eternal life.

9) Then I bumped into the girl from Jiangsu, Nanjing for the 3 third time lately. We recognized each other and I still endeavored to revise the Christian redemptive grace to her despite she is still hanging on to Buddhism mixing with local religious legend like MaZhou an goddess of the Ocean.

10) Then I came across a Vietnamese who did not want to chat but the Spirit moved him to take a tract and look at it right away. It gave me reason to briefly share about the content and purpose of the tract.

11) Then I met two Nepalese girls, who were open to the Gospel. It was a pity the bus cane too quick but they still managed to get a few tracts.

12) Daniel a young man from doing Environmental Science at Nathan Campus of the Griffith university. We clicked because our Hong Konger identity. He is not religious, but he showed good interest to listen to the gospel and agreed that the sin of human, out of selfishness has spoiled and contaminated the natural environment of the earth. So, the need to erase sin and defeat Satan is the same goal of Evangelist and Environmentalists. He was happy to take a selfie with me for possible future catching up.

13) Lastly, I tried to approach a Taiwanese but he was busy in making business call. But he was polite enough to take tract to read in His past time.

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday August 29th 2023 from 1330 – 1500

Despite we are moving forwards into Spring in just a couple of days. The weather turned cool with looming rain. It nevertheless did not hinder our passion to serve God by the regular street outreach at Toowong, Sunnybank and the Gold Coast. Actually, scattered rain fall did pour down while we were doing outreach at the bus stop. Again, it did not impose any inconvenience but rather helping us to keep people stay put under the Bus stop cover for longer conversation. The spiritual atmosphere was in mixed status, we encountered both receptive and rejective reaction from our gospel targets. It anyway is the norm as making people aware of our imperfection or sin is not a pleasant thing to do. We simply surrender our all to the Lord to play our role of priesthood for all nations. It reminds us Johnny, Chi Ming & Hung to work as a team and support each other in volatile and unstable circumstances in His strength. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung.

1) I first was led to catch up with Aladder an Aussie girl at the end of the queue for bus to buy more time for a chat. She was friendly and open for a chat even though she is not a religious person. But she remained open and receptive to the message shared and promised to ponder seriously at home to make this step of faith to accept Jesus as her saviour.

2) Then I was moved to approach a mature man from Colombia who has come for 8 months. He admitted he is not religious despite the Catholic background of his country. He patiently chatted with me for a while and excuse to leave for his part time work as a student.

3) Then I connected with another Local Aussie Gary who is a worker but not a student. He was OK for the chat and took a tract to read.

4) Then I was moved to catch up with Henry a Kiwi who was very open to chat about both spiritual and secular things. He did not reject God but also not feeling imminent need to connect with Him. He took a tract to read at the end.

5) Then I got hold of a Mainlander girl who was OK for a chat but appeared very conservative and not open to the gospel.

6) Next I caught up with a Taiwanese girl and she was more open for a chat on life issue and admitted that she need to address the issue of imperfection.

7) Then I caught up with another mainlander male and he deemed there may be perfect person in the world for argument sake At least his willingness to communicate and share his own view was good for opening the chance to share the full gospel to him.

8 ) Encountered two rejections by an Indian or Pakistanis and then also a Chinese girl who was on the phone.

9) Suen Suen ? a Singapore girl ? who was sceptical initially but God soften her heart for a very friendly chat of life issue. She also is not religious in mind but admit the gospel message worths deeper thinking in her heart to take an important faith action to address the imperfection issue of human sin. She took a tract to remind her about our conversation.

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An interesting week!  My first trip away of the season.  I headed to Wellington to attend an OAC conference.  It was really good, well worth the time - I think.  Although I was dreading going.  I hate routine change.  And, being the first trip of the season, it was a reminder of how quickly time is passing.  I really enjoy the routine of winter outreach!

Believe it or not, they let me run a workshop at the conference (the theme was ‘worldview’).  My brief was to talk about the innocence / guilt worldview.  Now, I’m not sure how well I did in running a workshop, because what I ended up doing was just preaching!  (Sorry about that!)  I’m so passionate about this, that I couldn’t stop myself.  But I learned how to run workshops by watching Jeremy do his thing (great stuff).  One of my goals was to communicate the importance of checking questions in gospel chats.  And I think I succeeded in that goal, as attendees talked about how they applied that in their chats during the street outreach that occurred later in the week.

It was awesome being able to spend time with like minded people, get to know them better, and compare notes.

The street outreach (on Thursday) was amazing.  We gathered at various spots on Cuba Street in Wellington.  One group had a Noah’s Ark display up.  There were two tables running doing surveys (for chocolate bars) and using that as a launching board for gospel conversations.  There were sketch board open airs happening - one which was accompanied by musicians.

I had a couple of guys who were keen to pair up with me for walk up conversations to glean new techniques - esp. in regards to checking questions.  I was happy to oblige.  My, the people on Cuba Street were certainly diverse.  From all walks of life!  I had a fantastic time in the 2 hours we were there.  Made me think about moving to Wellington! ;)

I got a rejection initially, but I just moved on, and managed to get into a great chat with a young man who worked in one of the stores (he was on a break).  Most of the discussion was centred on discussing, “who is God?” - but I was able to go through the law and touch on the gospel.  He had to go back to work before I could get into check questions.

So, I tried again, and got into a wonderful chat with a young man.  He seemed impacted by the simplicity of the gospel, and this time I was able to work through all the check questions.  He ended up taking a gospel of John - he loved the graphics on the cover.

We moved up to the intersection and I had a number of great chats there.  A young couple came to understand the gospel (again, check questions were deployed).  And then I approached an Asian couple.  They were moving from Christchurch to Auckland, and happened to bump into me in Wellington.  The main speaker was from China, but had moved to NZ because it was more accepting of LGBT (they were gay).  I ignored that, and just took her through my standard questions.  It was interesting, because it was like she had never considered the logic I was giving her before.  She was genuinely stunned (jaw dropping) as she had to admit what I was saying made sense.  I had just moved to the law, asking if she had ever lied, when a passer by who heard the question came and interrupted.  He was a philosopher and wanted to engage.  Sadly, it killed the conversation I was having.  I left the interrupter with the Christian I was paired with, and went to quickly finish the chat with the Chinese couple (go through the law, explain about Jesus, and offer tracts, which were accepted).

I then went back to the Interrupter.  He tried to use his philosophical magic, but I wouldn’t let him, I would answer what he was saying, and then go back to what is important: the gospel!  It ended up being a great chat, even if he was rejecting the gospel.

I had a number of other chats.  So many people, so much opportunity.  My brain was buzzing by the end of the outreach.  God is so good to involve us in his mission in this world, to bring glory to himself through his justice and his mercy!  His patience is amazing.

The conference finished on Friday and I hopped on a train back to Wellington.  I made it to the city by lunch time, and was able to join Craig for 30 minutes of outreach on the waterfront.  So many fish!  We handed out tracts, and we both got into conversations (pictured).  I actually had time to have two chats.  The first is pictured, and then another one.  They both went well in the fact that the people were happy to talk and came to hear the gospel.

At the airport, I was able to spend some time in online outreach before catching a plane back home to Christchurch.

On Saturday I also worked online. I had a great chat with a young lady from the UK, who grew up in Moldova.  When I was taking her through the law, she defended her goodness quite strongly, and I expected her to quit the conversation.  But she didn’t, and we ended up talking for over 45 minutes.  By the end of the chat, she was understanding the gospel, and she had made a profession of faith.  I pointed her to her Bible and a good local church in her area (and not an Orthodox one that she had grown up with).

On Sunday afternoon I went to the streets after church gathering.  It was really cold!  But I had my puffer jacket and Beanie on.  In 1 hour and 15 minutes I had 3 wonderful gospel conversations, in spite of the cold.  The first was with a young couple, who came to grasp the gospel, but not willing to commit at this stage.  The 2nd was a fantastic chat with a young man who has recently moved down from Nelson.  He had a Christian background, but was sadly articulating works for salvation.  He is looking for a church, and so I encouraged him to consider the church I’m a part of.  He left with a tract and a contact card, I really hope to see him again.  Finally, I had a follow up chat.  The kid had not remembered the gospel from our first chat, but I could see why: he is not interested, because he loves his sin.  I was able to show him this, and then plead with him again on the gospel.  He accepted tracts.  I hope to see him again, God willing.

Looking forward to a standard week of outreach next week!  Just over 3 weeks and I’ll be heading to the Philippines again.  I can’t believe it.  Time is going so fast!  Next thing you’ll know, we will be in eternity.  Giving account for our talents, and enjoying God forever.  Are you ready?
 

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023 from 1300-1500

Today, team work remained being between Johnny and Hung, all other regular gospel warriors were all not available. We more so thanks God for using us as His unmerited vessel to do His work. Both fo us had amble of chances to have gospel chats with those who were destined and elected by God to engage into conversation with us. Again, good team work was played out in between us referring gospel targets of our more related background to do the sharing. Battle Log of Hung is recap below for reference: -

1) The Mainlander lady I first approached only took a tract but had to leave for an Uber coming to pick her up.

2) An ABC Christian was about to test his assurance of salvation but no more time to do it.

3) A young lady Hou ?, from Shanxi Tai Yuan is an UQ student doing International Business and Finance. Had a causal chat then hastily shared the nutshell of Gospel before the bus arrived and she too ka tract to read.

4) Then I was led to approach a young lady from Quanzhou who is studying International Business at Griffith. Again just shared the nutshell of Gospel when her bus arrived.

5) Then I was led to meet another Catholic Christian but he deemed to be relying on work. Made a brief clarification.

6) Sze?, an ex- Catholic Chrisitan claimed he has forsaken his original faith. for a reason I was yet to find out. He however understood clearly the mechanism of Salvation. Anyway, he took a tract to read.

7) Then I caught up with Wong a Hong Konger but is now living in Sydney . She came to Brisbane on business?she advised she has no religion , but was still open for Gospel sharing and took a tract afterwards.

8 ) Then I approached a Filipino Christian lady who only has 60 % certainty of salvation. I point out her problem and made her understand she was saved 100 % because of Jesus redemptive work as such she should have 100 $ assurance of salvation.

9) Next, Johnny referred a Cantonese speaking Vietnam Chinese to me He has not heard the Gospel before and was appreciative of the message and is willing to consider to accept Jesus as his Saviour. I took a selfie with him in case I can meet him next time for follow up.

10) Then I was led to approach a man from Spain. Just shared the Nutshell of the gospel to find he is a Catholic Chrisitan, yet no time to test assurance of salvation.

11) Then I caught up next with lady Huang from Keelung , who came here fro English study. She has not heard of the Gospel before and is willing to pursue this Chrisitan faith.

12) Next I chatted with a lady from Tapei Taiwan?she was willing to listen but remained sceptical.

13) I approached another Mainlander girl but she appeared indifferent

14) Finally , I had a long chat with Isa from Colombia of Catholic background. Again, clarified for her the assurance of salvation and took a selfie for future possible follow up.

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday August 15th 2023 from 1330 – 1500

Today, Chi Ming coming back from Tawan still joined to team up with Johnny and Hung to serve at Toowong. When we started there was still a long queue for the bus so we approached people at the end of the queue to gain more time to chat before they got on to the bus. In general, it was again a very fruitful outreach though not without hiccup up and stern rejection from a minority few. God also nurture team work that Johnny and I minister to the same person reinforcing the gospel message to the target to make an informed decision quickly. Recap is the Battle Log of Hung :

1) First Rejected by a mainlander girl despite I stressed it is a discussion of life issue from non-religious point of view.

2) Then I switched to approach an Aussie girl in front who was friendly initially but turn harsh once she thought the life issue was still about the fall and sin of human being that triggered the need of all human for salvation.

3) Then my next divine appointment was with an overseas Chinese born in USA but returned to China. She actually received education in Christian school in USA, and their family was once religious but for some reason, they all fell back from their original faith in God. The girl considered her self not yet a believer. I anyhow stressed the need of all people including good person yet not perfect then we all need salvation of Jesus to cleanse our sins. She was opened to discussion of the message but appeared not ready yet to be convicted to admit she is a sinner who need Jesus to take her place to receive punishment for her sin.

4) Then I was moved to approach still mainlander from Quanzhou. He was happy we can chat in Cantonese. Though he appeared a bit cautious in accepting the gospel message, but he basically was still willing to enter into conversation with me on this life issue until the bus came.

5) Another mainlander student suddenly approached me for a tract hastily before he had to get on the bus. I gave him both Chinese and English. So prayerfully God will minister to him when he read the tract on the bus.

6) Then I spent long time to chat with a mainlander girl who did not show initial rejection. But gradually her attention was distracted by some incoming text message triggering her to respond. Finally, I just finished the full gospel sharing and let her go when her bus arrived. I took a photo of her back but she noticed it from her hindsight and demanded me to delete the photo which I of course followed her request. That was the normal sort of spiritual warfare challenges we have to face from time to time.

7) Then I was led to approach still mainlander man from Henan . He was opened and welcome for conversation. But it did not last long because of the quick arrival of the bus.

8 ) Miguel is a Catholic Christian and a high school student from Filipin. He patiently listened with interest to the gospel sharing but indicated at the end he is a Catholic Christian. I then tested he only have 80% certain to go to heavenly. I had to rush for giving him the clarification before the bus arrived. He was appreciative to have a selfie with me.

9) Then I was moved to approach mainlander again, a girl from Shanxi Taiyuan. She studies Accounting at UQ and was willing to chat on life issues. I also shared my testimony and work that God led me to do in China which seemingly had attracted her interest and hence become more willing to hear the gospel.

10) Carlsberg is from New Castle and a self-proclaimed Catholic 100 Chrisitan. He seemed to have 100 % assurance of salvation but all for the wrong reason of his good work rather than relying on Jesus alone. I also had to hastily to give him the clarification and he was appreciative to have again a selfie with me.

11) Then I was led to approach an Indonesia couple who appeared very friendly and polite though sceptical about the status of Jesus as the son of God and our Saviour.

12) Then I saw Louis was reading the tract obviously after a chat with Johnny. I curiously asked if he fully understand the message presented. I anyway was moved to reinforced the full gospel message once and he delightfully came to admit it is all true and logical and credible. I challenge him to make his final step of faith and took picture so I will recognize him next week to ask about his decision. Praise God he was really almost there.

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In the picture, the guy Andy was talking to was in church this morning.  He has just moved to Christchurch from the North Island.  Friday was his first day in Christchurch, and he bumps into Andy.  Turns out he is staying in the same suburb as Andy.  And, he first heard the gospel through a street evangelist where he used to live up north.  No coincidences.  How encouraging is that!

Roger was with me in Riccarton on Tuesday.  Roger, John and Andy and I were at the Bridge of Remembrance on Friday.  Susan joined me on a nice spring Sunday afternoon in Cashel Mall.

Let me go back to Tuesday.  Ya know, the previous Tuesday’s outreach was so good, that’s all I can remember at the moment.  Hold on, it’s slowly coming back to me.  I remember the last chat was with a young couple, the guy was giving really good answers to my questions - he knew the gospel already.  That’s right!  The guy before him heard the gospel but wasn’t interested.  But the guy before that, heard the gospel and seemed to be deeply impacted.  Those three chats rolled one into the other.  I remember that I was starting to lose my voice a bit after the second one.  I had to pull my drink bottle out and cool my throat.  I was tired as I saw the young couple coming past, so I half heartedly said, “would you like to try the good person test?” and pointed to my flip chart.  To my surprise, they said, “yeah, why not”.  There is just no lack of gospel opportunity.  Who knows what will be the result.  Maybe the one who wasn’t interested will come to Christ, after all the gospel is the power of God for salvation.  Our job is to plough, sow, and water.  God will bring the increase.  All glory to him!

On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I had a series of 4 stellar gospel conversations online.  The last of those 3 the people I was talking to even made professions of faith.  The first was from Northern Ireland (he was persuaded but said he needed time to process), second from Brazil, third from Cyprus (a couple of girls, one Catholic, and one Jewish), and finally with a young man from the Netherlands.

The street work on Friday was great, nice weather.  I’ve already mentioned Andy’s encouragement at the start.  I had a number of conversations: 1) A hyper charismatic (religiously) who got offended when I challenged them on the basis of their salvation.  They talked about miracles and the Holy Spirit, defended their righteousness, and no mention of Jesus - till the end.  2) A young man down from Wellington, happy to chat and hear the gospel, no visible interest.  3) I got to talk with my trans friend again.  He had blue lipstick this time.  He wasn’t offended when I reiterated that homosexuality is a sin, and I was able to continue labouring the good news.  He also asked me how I dealt with hatred and opposition.  4) A barber on a break.  He didn’t like Christianity because he falsely connected it to colonial oppression (he had a Samoan background).  I worked to make him realise the universal truth of oppression (sin), but didn’t have time to get to the gospel (one of those chats where you really have to labour).  Although, he rejected a tract at the start of the chat, and yet he was willing to take one as he left to go back to work.

I also had encouragement.  I got to talk to someone I knew from a church I was a part of years ago, down in Timaru.  (He was out talking with the homeless.)  He was showing me the Bibles he gives away when I noticed he had a single gospel tract (pictured).  It was one that our team had shared years ago!  I could tell, because the website address had been manually stamped by my family!  It encouraged me, because people do keep them.  They are silent missionaries.  Our labour is not in vain.

I had a great online chat on Saturday afternoon. The young lady started out as an atheist.  But it was emotional rather than intellectual, because as we started dealing with the truth her Christian background started to reveal itself.  She ended up reading me scriptures and talking about her church.  And yet, she didn’t understand the gospel.  By the end of the 30 minute chat, I think the truth of the gospel was starting to become clear.  It was a bit of a messy chat (non standard), but it was a good one.  God save her!

Sunday’s weather was amazing!  I’m going to have to start using sunscreen again.  The outreach was good, but difficult and discouraging.  It started out with a chat with a man who knew a lot about the Bible, but refuses to be part of a church.  I gave him the benefit of the doubt to start with, but as the conversation progressed, it became clearer and clearer that he was subtly trusting in works for his justification (it was difficult because I had to decipher all the words he used – the same words I use, but he had different meanings).  I ended up having to confront him in his error out of love.  To my surprise he called me a calvinist, a ‘neo calvinist’ whatever that is.  I was so surprised, because I wasn’t preaching Calvinism but the gospel.  He even quoted John Piper positively, does he realise John Piper is a calvinist?  For some reason I found this really discouraging - not sure why.  I left him at that point.  He talked with Susan for a bit while I went to distribute tracts to others.

Susan and I then paired for walk up chats.  I got into a chat with 5 young people.  A hard one, they were all in different places, and one of them kept taking control of the conversation and leading it on weird tangents.  I was amazed they stayed for as long as they did.  But I was able to share the gospel twice.

Had some other chats.  Another week of God’s patience is complete.  Thank you for keeping us in prayer.
 

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