Battle Log

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Friday, 9 April, 2021

Posted by Posted 10 April 2021, 7:58 AM by Glen Richards. Permalink

A very busy couple of days of outreach in Christchurch.  On Thursday I was online in the morning, and then at the Eastgate bus stops with Andy in the afternoon.  Friday saw the gospel + abortion outreach outside the hospital, and then outreach in the central city, including many opportunities to talk with climate change activists.  The day ended with a wonderful conversation online.

From Thursday morning I remember the conversations being difficult - a lot of resistance.

I had an 81 minute conversation with a young man from Germany!  He was either playing me along the whole time, or he was genuinely contemplating the gospel, or maybe both.  But after counting the cost he ended up doubling down and saying “god is fake bud”.  Sadly, It seems sex with his girlfriend was more important to him than God and eternal life.

Later I had a difficult chat with a guy from Slovakia.  There was a language barrier, and yet he seemed to be comprehending the things I was saying.  He was very thoughtful.  At one point he said: “I believe that the universe came into being out of nowhere” - I was quick to point out how illogical that is, and he didn’t argue.

Many wonderful chats at the Eastgate bus stops.  It’s been a while since we’ve been there and so the fishing hole felt fresh.

I had a great chat with a guy who had just been to a church for the first time with a friend the week prior!  After the chat, he seemed to be articulating the good news well and seemed very appreciative of the information.

Later I approached a lady sitting in one of the bus shelters.  She said, “Are you Glen or Andy?”  It turns out she had talked to Andy before, and she had prayed for him.  She greatly encouraged me by saying she was praying for us everyday!  How wonderful is that.  Thank you Heather!

The gospel + abortion outreach on Friday morning went really well (team of seven).  No counter protesters today.  I fell into a long conversation with a man who had recently come out of a Christian cult (3 years ago).  He wasn’t certain on where he should land spiritually, he has been on a journey!  He is leaning towards Greek Orthodox.  We spent a long time talking about soteriology (the theology of salvation).  We are now in text and email contact - he has been sending me valuable information about the cult he was involved with.  I intend to continue our chat about how we are saved!

Andy had a wonderful chat with two girls who have Christian upbringing but had deep questions about it.  They came to understand the gospel!

We didn’t do any open air preaching in Cathedral Square as a climate change rally was on.  We headed to Cashel Mall instead.  Praise God, Andy and I had two wonderful follow up chats with people where the gospel seems to be taking root!  I got a Bible onto the phone of one; he works on Sunday, but he is going to see if he can change his schedule so he can come along to church.

During those chats, a climate change march went through.  Andy handed out tracts to those walking past (pictured).

We ended up down at the Bridge of Remembrance where Roger joined us.  We had a very busy afternoon of outreach.  Many wonderful opportunities to talk to the kids involved with the climate change rally / march!  Roger had people queuing to do his flip chat!  It was a non stop day for him.  Andy had a super long conversation with a guy (pictured).  The outreach ended and Roger and I went for a hot chocolate, even after that Andy’s conversation was still going!

A highlight chat was one Roger (and later I joined it later) had with the owner of SoYo in Riccarton.  This guy is Muslim and often talks to Roger when we are in Riccarton.  He seems very challenged by the gospel.  The conversation will hopefully continue when we are in Riccarton next.

The last conversation of the day was online.  With a guy from Brazil.  He has a Christian background but is gay.  He believes in God and wants to be a Christian, but is deeply struggling with his sin - he had even tried suicide, but said that God had rescued him from it.  He was subtly misunderstanding the gospel, and he had also reconciled his homosexuality by declaring that it wasn’t a sin.  It was a very difficult chat, with a language barrier where I had to get him to understand the gospel, and that homosexuality is sinful.  An 80 minute conversation!  At times he was tearful.  He was very thankful for the conversation by the end of it.  He had instructions for Bible passages to start working through, and I pointed him to a local church.  He is also in touch with the needGod.net team via Instagram.  Oh Lord, only you can change hearts by your grace and help us in the battle with our flesh.  Lord, you have the power to save, and the power to sanctify us.  Thank you for your grace, Lord, your sacrifice covers all our sins!
 


Sunnybank (QLD) Team

Wednesday, 7 April, 2021

Posted by Posted 7 April 2021, 5:37 PM by Hung Kwan. Permalink

Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday March 7, 2021 from 1300 - 1500

The weather turned superbly fine this afternoon as such Johnny and Hung stayed on the East side to do our street Evangelism. It was delightful to have Gary re-joining us today with his big signs to draw attention of passers-by . He himself had got an ultra-long conversation with a self-acclaimed apostolic Christian about the end time political climate that Australian is facing with the Middle Kingdom as our major opponent.

As usual, Sunnybank is a comparatively hard land of Gospel as such we faced a more than normal rejection rate throughout the ministry time. Anyway, thanks God that most of them were positive and receptive. Recap below were the 6 major divine encounters.

1) Jenny is from a Christian family though she herself has not yet formally received Christ despite she is attending church with her Christian mother. She is from Henan China which is a highly populated province with Christian. She showed care for me while I walked quickly with her across the foot bridge appearing a bit out of my breath. I pray that the simple but precious gospel message can strike her heart to cross over the last step of faith blocking her from receiving Christ as her Saviour. 河南家基督, 有去教會未信,可以接受

2) Then I approached an elderly man Mr Wong from Quandong China firstly in Mandarin and a bit later switching into Cantonese after knowing his home town. He was born in Quanzhou, then moved to Hong Kong and finally to Australia. He shared many common memory of Hongkong that helped to identify with each others. He has not yet committed on any religion as he thought they are all good but have short coming too. I stressed the message of the tract that we are ordinary people who are regarded good, but we are all imperfect. So all people good or bad need salvation as long as we have punishable sin. We are not perfect yet after we received Christ attending church as the redemptive grace of Jesus only converted our identity from sinner and or enemy of God to a blessed sinner with sin pardon by the grace of Jesus redemptive act as such regaining our sonship and heavenly citizenship to be with God. It is soonest possible for him to make this last very small step of faith to get himself into the realm of God before it is too late. He appeared receptive and responsive to my appeal. Just pray and leave all this to God. 王伯中國,廣東閱歴甚多,未信,欠最後一步縱有家人已信主

3) Then God led me to chat with another even older man Mr Tam from Jiangsu China. He was drawn by my young and energetic appearance and was amazed to find that I was only 10 years younger than him who is now 80 years old. It appeared that he needs and enjoys chatting with people apart from his own family. Like Mr Wong he spent time in Shenzhen, then Hong Kong and finally migrated to Australia. But because the lack of English , he could not stand the loneliness with little inter person networking here as such he returned to Hong Kong. He was summoned by his sons to come to mind his grandsons with a one year visa. He got caught up here to stay over the visa period because of pandemic. I pray and trust that the love of Christ will melt his heart to have faith in relationship with families as well as with God. 談先生江穌,深圳香港,回流探兒孫友善願聼

4) Chelsy is a friendly Kiwi girl. She stopped surfing on her iPhone and listened attentively to my full gospel sharing and appeared very receptive. Her heart seemed very opened and soften for the gospel. Pray for God's last step of faith to reap this new fruit in Christ.

5) I caught up with two Chinese young man who turned out to Mansfield students. They were in a hurry but still let me share the nutshell of gospel to them. They were amazed to find out I am the father of their teacher.

6) The last person I got in touch was yet another senior man Me Wang from Quanzhou. He seemed to have no religion and felt strange to listen to the Gospel. I nevertheless stressed the need and urgency for him to miss no more chance of knowing and accepting Jesus as his Saviour and Lord of life. The bus came and he left with the tract in his hand. 王廣州無信仰


Christchurch (NZ) Team

Wednesday, 7 April, 2021

Posted by Posted 7 April 2021, 5:36 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink

Well, I’m back to a normal schedule now.  By the grace of God, we have made it through a busy six weeks of special outreaches: Whangarei mission (which included lock down shenanigans, and tsunami alerts!), Christchurch mission, Dunedin mission, Malvern & Oxford A&P shows, and the Easter Monday hot cross bun + gospel tract outreach.  All glory to God for anything good that came from the effort!  I’m looking forward to moving into the winter season of outreach.

On Tuesday I was online with the team before heading to Riccarton in the late afternoon with Roger.  As we prayed together I was thinking of how useless our effort is: two old guys, standing on the street corner, looking like fools.  I prayed that God would use our effort for his glory.  Well, we both had a fantastic couple of hours talking to people about the gospel - God answered my prayer!

Two highlight conversations.

The first started when two ladies walked past.  I was offering tracts.  The one closest to me ignored me, but to her surprise the one furthest from me cut behind her friend so she could come over to take the tract.  She really wanted to talk.  Her friend seemed surprised, but came over too - she didn’t want to interact, so I focused on the one that wanted to talk.  It was a quick chat, maybe five minutes, but in that time, she went from thinking her good deeds would get her to heaven, to articulating that it is only trust in Jesus' sacrifice that would get her to heaven.  She had a Christian background, and was in a period of life where she was thinking about these things deeply.  She said she needed to think about it more - which is fine - but I communicated the urgency in responding.  She had the tract, and I pointed her to the one minute videos on Tik Tok: needGod.net

The second highlight was with a guy called Glen!  This was a fascinating chat because he was claiming to be a Christian, yet was indicating that he thought his good deeds would save him.  I took him through the law (starting with not lying), and then shared the gospel.  But when I moved into checking questions, it was clear that he wasn’t understanding.  Having remembered what I said about lying, he responded with “tell the truth” as the reason why he would get to heaven!  I laboured with him, and it started to sink in, but it was clear he was adding works to Jesus' sacrifice for salvation - not good.  By the end of the conversation, he seemed pretty stunned as he came to grasp the gospel: a free gift (grace alone) paid for by the sacrifice of Jesus alone, and accepted by faith alone.  I was then able to touch on the correct place of good work in the life of a believer.  He seemed very appreciative of the chat.  I know which local church he is a part of.  May this be a turning point for him!

Today I also spent some time online.  My memory of the two days of online work is mainly difficult, but good chats.

I’m also in email contact with the resistant guy I talked to at the Oxford A&P show.  It’s going slow but well.  I’m praying for God’s help in this conversation.  All glory to him!
 


Toowong (QLD) Team

Tuesday, 6 April, 2021

Posted by Posted 6 April 2021, 8:36 PM by Hung Kwan. Permalink

Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong on Tuesday April 6 from 1330 - 1500.

The 3 days lock down last week killed off only once our street evangelism. We were able to be back again this week despite heavy rain kept falling nonstop for almost the entire past week. By God Will, rain stopped completely during our time of street ministry and started drifting down again as soon as we finished our closing prayer.

Despite restriction of social gathering are as such everyone has to wear a face mask in public place, it had almost no deterring effect on our street evangelism ministry. All the three of us, Johnny, Winnie and Hung all got good share of chance for a chat. Though in reality, people from Mainland China are harder to reach out especially they are accompanied with friends. Recap below was my 6 divine encounters.

1) My first encounter was with a girl from Mainland China. She showed overt reluctance to chat and reject to take a tract. Fortunately , she was by herself so she did not ask me to leave her alone. I could keep sharing the gospel in an unhindered manner and she apparently was touched by the message though her upbringing still have imposed on her a great bondage to open up for truth. Pray for God's further work on her. 中女,不情不願,仍照分享,認同福音,但沒接受單張

2) Then I caught up with a high level Buddhist lady . She discouraged me up front to not talk to her declaring she is an accredited Buddhist follower with good training of Buddhist doctrine. I had to strike a balance in letting her to voice out her view of Buddhism and chipping in message of Gospel to counteract with the Good deed oriented self-perfection practice. The Bus schedule did not give me more time to reach a satisfactory wrap up on our conversation. Can only pray for next round of encounter , if God willing.

3) Sophia was a lovely local Aussie girl whom I thought I had met before but I was wrong. Despite does not have any Christian connection in her upbringing, yet she received me with open arms to listen to the gospel with interaction showing high degree of receptiveness to the message. Pray for the final step of faith through the work of the Holy Spirit to bring Sophia to Christ.

4) Aman was an UQ student from China, like the first girl from China, he also showed initial reluctance to chat but finally caught up with me to hear the gospel.

5) An Indian mum with her daughter appeared a bit uneasy when I approached her. She nevertheless still allowed me to share the full gospel to her but when I touched upon sin and Jesus the only perfect man to die for us, she show obvious resistance to listen on. I pray and hope that the dark spirit in her life will be driven out by the work of God through the tract she took.

6) Another singleton UQ student from main China was approached by me to share him the full Gospel. He was comparatively more open and at ease to hear the good news with good sign of receptiveness.

感謝主的带领,雖然今天很大雨,但當我們開始傳福音的時候,雨量減少,甚至停止。今天主讓我遇到八人傳福音的機會及講解救恩。

第一位,Sam,中國 來的UQ 學生。

第二位,Steve, 中國青年,來自 Singapore.

第六位,John, 來自中國年青人。

第七位,Jenny, 澳洲少女。他們四位 都會想想信仰問题。

第三位,Matt, 中國青年,來自馬來西亞。及 第八位 印度少女。他們两位,是基督徒,但不明白救恩。我解释给他們。

第四位,Alan, 中國年青人,很留心聽福音,願意信靠主,找教會。

第五位,中國年青人,Denial, 初時不願意接受單張及聽福音。稍后我再行過去,問他,如果明天有意外 死了。你會往那裏。我們是罪人,如果沒有耶穌基督 十字架的救赎,便要落地獄。我给他單張 讓他看看,什麽是罪。我説信靠耶穌基督,是免费的禮物。請想清楚。

願主賜福给今天聽到福音以及 未信主的人仕,認罪悔改,回轉歸向 神。阿們!感謝讚美主!


Christchurch (NZ) Team

Monday, 5 April, 2021

Posted by Posted 6 April 2021, 8:49 AM by Glen Richards. Permalink

I’m Blown away with how well today's "Hot Cross Bun + Gospel Tract" outreach went.  Weather was amazing, heaps of people out, over 500 hot cross bun halves + gospel tracts given away, and 4 flip charts were running.  And look how big the team was!  There are at least 6 others involved who didn't make it into either of the pictures!  Glory to God alone!

I don’t think I got into a single gospel conversation myself, I spent the whole time encouraging Christians.  In fact, the one conversation I did get into was with a Christian (not on our team) who was so encouraged at seeing what we were doing!

The hot cross buns and tracts were very well received - people seemed really blessed.  We had four of our regular hecklers out.  Apparently one of them told us to stop spreading our hate!  How ironic.

I’m going to let the pictures do the talking from here.  Soli Deo Gloria!
 


Christchurch (NZ) Team

Sunday, 4 April, 2021

Posted by Posted 5 April 2021, 7:13 AM by Glen Richards. Permalink

Easter.  Jesus rose from the dead, and gave us a sure hope for the same.  Praise the Lord!

Assuming there wouldn’t be many on the streets, and as we will have a special outreach on Easter Monday - I only spent a couple of hours online with the team today.  Great chats, but difficult ones.

The first kid was very resistant to the logic of how we know God exists and the law of God.  It seemed pointless to him, he asked a few times what my point was.  He heard the gospel, but spurned it.  “Go spread the word.”  Disconnect.

Next I was talking to a couple of soft toys!  It’s funny that I don’t even bat an eyelid at such craziness.  The kids behind the toys heard the gospel.

A couple of false starts, firstly with a guy from Germany, then with a kid who went through the law and then bailed.  I was then able to share the gospel with a girl from the States.

A great chat with two girls who came to grasp the gospel and seemed very intrigued.  The first question was about homosexuality.  I was faithful in responding to the question and received a disconnect.

Before my last chat of the day, I had a few more difficult chats facing deep resistance.  Firstly with a Phillipino guy (fought), and then with an Indian guy (I don’t want to talk about this).

The last chat was a long one with a guy in Brazil.  He liked to talk.  This guy thought positive thoughts would lead to a good afterlife, and negative ones to a bad one!  He denied heaven and hell.  Eventually he came to hear the gospel, and suddenly he was in agreement!  He was a Christian?!  He agreed with grace through faith.  So I circled back to try to understand why he was denying heaven and hell.  At the end of the conversation I asked if he was Catholic or Protestant.  He said neither - he was Mormon!  I tried to explain why Mormon’s don’t actually believe in grace through faith.  He was intrigued by the conversation and liked needGod.net on Instagram.  I encouraged him to get in touch was the conversation could continue!
 


Christchurch (NZ) Team

Saturday, 3 April, 2021

Posted by Posted 4 April 2021, 7:19 AM by Glen Richards. Permalink

Oxford A&P Show

Well, last Saturday was the first A&P show we had been at in a long while due to Covid.  And then we had two in a row!  Today we were at the Oxford A&P Show for the day sharing the gospel with many via The Good Person Test flip chart.

It was a cool and slow start to the day, but the sun warmed things up, and before long streams of people were flowing past.  Again a solid team of Christians were there (12+?) - many of whom weren’t at the previous weeks show.  Many were fighting their fears, but I was super encouraged that they came anyway and were willing to give it a go!

I think the biggest highlight for me was watching my own daughters DESIRE to share the gospel, eager to get involved.  In the morning, they had some great opportunities paired up with me and others that were more experienced.  But by the end of the day they were doing full gospel conversations on their own!  I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

For me I had many difficult conversations.

One guy came up to the chart and I could tell from his body language he was in attack mode.  It wasn’t long before he said: “well, I’m gay” - fully expecting a look of revulsion to come to my face.  It didn’t.  We continued talking for a few moments, and then I said, “you don’t hate me do you?”.  He paused, hopefully getting my point.  Sadly he didn’t stay long - he wasn’t interested in the gospel.

Another one was with a tall solid guy who had two kids with him.  He walked past, and heard me ask, “would you like to try the good person test?”  He swung around and said, “ok!”  I wasn’t expecting that, and it wasn’t a good sign.  Sure enough he wanted to argue.  He kept taking the conversation off on tangents, but soon I think the reason for his argumentation was that he couldn’t stand the thought that someone who repents at the last minute can be forgiven.  Usually that’s a sign that they have been deeply hurt by someone and can’t stand the thought of that person being forgiven.  I persisted in the conversation, I really had to control my desire to fight back and listen to what the guy was saying.  He was raising deep and important questions and not allowing me to respond.  Eventually I asked if I could email him, as I wanted to be able to address his questions properly.  To my surprise he gave me his email address!  I will certainly be getting in touch.  Please pray for this man.

But I had many good conversations as well!  As did the team.  An exhausting but rewarding day of outreach!
 


Christchurch (NZ) Team

Friday, 2 April, 2021

Posted by Posted 2 April 2021, 6:56 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink

Thursday was a busy day of outreach - most of it online.

The first chat of the day was with a guy from India.  He said he was going to skip me, but the sign on my wall attracted him: “What happens after we die?”  He heard the gospel, and he seemed to be deeply challenged by the conversation.  Yet, sadly, he avoided answering my checking questions.

You get all sorts when you are out sharing the gospel!  I had an interesting chat with someone wearing a mask (pictured).  Their responses were limited to nods and shakes, and the occasional typed answer, but they seemed to follow along with the logic of the gospel presentation they were hearing.  They heard the gospel and I asked my first checking question which gets them to articulate the gospel back to me.  That was too much, and they stopped responding at this point.  Not much I could do, and so after pointing them to needGod.net, I disconnected.

I had a great chat with a Muslim guy from Algeria.  By the way he was dressed I can only assume he was up to no good - I left most of his video feed covered.  Yet we had a good conversation where he heard the gospel.

Two great (separate) conversations with guys who turned out to be likely false converts.  One before I headed off to the gospel + abortion outreach, and the other after.

Speaking of the gospel + abortion outrech.  It went really well!  A team of four, and no counter protesters.  We had many opportunities to engage with people about the gospel and with pro life apologetics.

The first was with an older couple.  He engaged in conversation.  I could tell he agreed that abortion was wrong, and yet he wanted to justify exceptions.  His argument was that if a child was going to have a terrible life, then it’s okay to kill it before it’s born.  I trotted out the toddler (and played the same argument back but inserted a two year old into the place of a preborn child).  I asked if it would be okay to kill a toddler in the same situation?  He could see the point, but persisted in his argument.  I listened and then said, “you know, they did that in Nazi Germany, the decided that the infirm were not worth of life, and killed them”.  He again saw the point, but this time his mouth was stopped.  He agreed.  I was then able to shift the discussion to how we know right from wrong: God, take him through the law, and share the gospel!  Praise God.  He was resistant, but he listened.  The gospel is the power of God to salvation - I leave him in God’s hands.

Soon after I had four teen guys approach and we had a wonderful apologetics engagement where I wouldn’t let them off the hook in regards to how we know God exists - which is the basis for morality.  Through the conversation the law and the gospel was touched on.  And they all took Life is Precious tracts.

Back online I had a wonderful chat with a guy from Italy.  He gently fought me on how we know God exists.  By the end of the conversation he opened up that he had grown up in a Christian family and he had “strayed a lot from the path of God”.  I could identify, and touched on my testimony and shared the gospel to try to give him hope!

Later I had yet another likely false convert!  He seemed to really appreciate the clarity of the gospel that he was missing.

The last chat I’ll mention from Thursday was one with someone from Mexico - Catholic background.  It was a text chat.  They were a bit slow to warm up to the conversation.  And they needed some clarity as the idea that salvation is a gift was foreign.  But they became engaged - I could tell because the questions were very good.  I leave them in God’s hands.

Good Friday!  Why is it called Good Friday when we remember a man brutally murdered on a cross?  I spent four hours online with the team answering that question for many people!

Two very memorable quotes from the outreach:

In response to my question “what do we have to do to go to heaven?” his response was: “don’t sin, and spread the *gossip* of Jesus”!  He didn’t realise what he had said - I had a little internal giggle.

And this one is very said.  I fell into a conversation with a young lady who, as I was going through the law, suddenly changed demeanor and said: “I would be guilty, but I like it, so I will go to hell” - then she disconnected.  :(

Thank you for the continued support - esp. prayer, as we continue to reach out with the hope of the gospel!
 


Christchurch (NZ) Team

Wednesday, 31 March, 2021

Posted by Posted 31 March 2021, 4:53 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink

Autumn has arrived at our usual outreach spot in Riccarton.  On Tuesday morning Roger and I were there for a couple of hours with our flip charts.  But I often went for a walk down Riccarton Road and back - covering the bus stops - and getting into conversations that presented themselves.

A highlight chat was with a young couple who sat down to hear the gospel.  They heard the logic of how we know God exists, the law, and then the amazing gospel.  As we are close to Easter we talked about why Good Friday is good when we remember a man brutally murdered on a cross.  A couple of checking questions were required to nail down the understanding of the gospel before they moved on.

Later I crossed paths with a student from Christchurch Boys High - we had a brief conversation where he came to grasp the gospel.

At the end of the outreach I hurried home to join the online team for the afternoon.

My first conversation was with a guy from India who said he was a Muslim but had been to Christian church meetings while he had lived in the USA and had a fondness of Jesus (Isa).  Yet he didn’t understand the gospel - he thought “being good” would get him to heaven.  So I gently laboured with him till he grasped it.  It was a joy talking to him.  He said he would start reading the Bible.

Next up was a guy who was permanently joking about everything we talked about, and yet there was an intelligence in him, and he quickly came to grasp the gospel.  Yet he was easily distracted.  He showed me his pet Lizard which was cool.

A Catholic guy from Norway had an audible “ah ha” moment when he came to understand the gospel for the first time.  Sadly he didn’t stick around for me to work through any checking questions - I leave him in God's hands.

I then had a long thirty minute chat with a young lady who didn’t want God to exist because she didn’t like the idea that God could make the rules (be a “dictator”).  So I spent time labouring with her on how we know God exists anyway.  She slowed down and really started to process what I was saying.  She heard the law, and came to understand the gospel.  I was working through questions she had when she suddenly disconnected.  It happens - God knows why, and what’s going on in their heart.

Next up was a kid who was open to the conversation and slowly came to grasp the gospel.

The highlight conversation was with a young Christian man who assumed by my line of questioning that I was going to be an Atheist - he was a bit shocked when I turned out to be a Christian who would challenge him on his standing before God.  He had a reasonable grasp on the gospel, and yet was he really a Christian?  He knew a Christian should have assurance - his elders had been teaching on this.  And yet he didn’t.  Some gentle probing revealed that he didn’t think he deserved heaven - so that was why he had doubt.  To me it was clear he was looking to his works to be saved - even if it was just 10%.  I challenged him.  He seemed to really appreciate the conversation and said he would check out needGod.net on Tik Tok.  I especially pointed him to his elders.  This is too important to get wrong.

Two kids from Wales.  It was a tuff chat because one of them seemed to be grasping the gospel, but the other one just kept confusing the conversation.  I was tired, so I’m not sure I did as well as I could have, sadly.

Thursday I was online with the team as well.  A couple of highlight conversations.

The first was with a guy from the Dominican Republic who did believe in God but didn’t believe in God?!  He clarified by explaining that he believed God existed, but he didn’t like the hypocrites in churches.  From there we had a fairly standard conversation where he came to clearly articulate the gospel.  There seemed to be nothing stopping him from responding in faith.  So I pointed him to a Bible and a good church in his area (9 Marks had 3 listed).

The other was with a kid (pictured) who had a pretty fancy looking computer.  Using that as a conversation starter I was able to prove to him that God exists even in the face of some initial resistance.  He went silent, and then came out curious.  I was able to share the law and the gospel and check that he understood.  As always, I left him in God’s hands!
 


Christchurch (NZ) Team

Sunday, 28 March, 2021

Posted by Posted 28 March 2021, 5:44 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink

A quick report.  Four hours of outreach today.  I was pacing myself in the city in the early afternoon.  A hot, muggy day.  I was passing out tracts and getting a lot of rejection.

One girl said she had received one the previous week.  I asked if she had read it.  She had, but she kept walking and didn’t want to stop to talk.

I also had a guy sit and watch me for a while - I have talked to him before, but he wasn’t open.  He started giving me advice: “if you compliment people, then they will want to talk to you”.  I responded that I wanted to avoid bait and switch (that’s how the cults work) and then decided to move to a different spot.  He followed me for a while and then finally left me alone.

There was eventually a team of four, including someone new to me.  I eventually ended up getting into a couple of conversations, but they were with resistant people - one very much so.  He heard the law, but refused hearing the gospel, sadly.

The last two hours were online, I had six solid gospel conversations - most of them very encouraging.

One was with a couple of Catholic kids who went from saying their good deeds would get them to heaven, to articulating the gospel.

Another started with a kid saying some pretty disgusting (blasphemous) things, he then went on to claim he was going to heaven because he believed in Jesus!  We sparred on apologetics, where he sobered up, and then opened up to hear the law, and the gospel in context of that.  I then asked how sure he would be that he would go to heaven: 97%.  I then asked why the 3% doubt.  His answer was revealing: “because I don’t think I would deserve it”.  Well no one deserves it!  Was he trusting 3% in his works?  I challenged him again on the gospel, and the change that would come with true faith.  He was a very different person now from when the conversation started - very contemplative.
 


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