Battle Log

On Tuesday I spent a couple of hours online before heading to Riccarton for a couple of hours.

I was a touch late to Riccarton - Roger was already deep in conversation when I got there (pictured).  He had a good early run of conversations.

It started a bit slowly for me, I had two good follow up conversations, and then I got into an interesting chat with a young lady who was mildly intrigued at what I was doing.  She saw my flip chart which said “the good person test” and instantly assumed I was in a religion that taught good deeds to “make it”.  She said she could be good without religion, and the conversation went from there.  She accepted a tract, but handed it back - she was resistant but, strangely, she opened up and hinted at serious trials she was facing in her life at the moment.  She didn’t stay long, but she did accept the tract back again.  I was encouraged.

We had a bit of a lull in the middle of the outreach, and I was beginning to think on new locations for outreach when it finished with a bang.  The outreach went nearly 30 minutes over!

In a recent Riccarton outreach report I talked about some Christchurch Boys High students who I took through the flip chart.  I was discouraged because of their resistance.  I specifically remember the one who understood it the quickest being the most resistant!

Well, three of them were back - including the most resistant one - and they had four friends with them!  We had a long conversation, where I took them all through the flip chart and then spent time working through an excellent series of questions they had.  The most encouraging thing was seeing Mr. Resistant thinking deeply.

Roger ended up coming over to join the conversation.  He had frozen yoghurt for me that the Muslims in the shop had given us.  I gave it to the boys, who seemed to appreciate it.

Just then, one of my regulars went past - a satanist.  I left the boys with Roger and fell into an easy conversation with my satanist friend (yeah, those words were as weird to write as they are to read!)

Then the strangest thing happened, the CBHS boys had finished talking to Roger and had moved past me.  One of them came up to me and gave me a hug!  My satanist friend was as surprised as I was!  I chucked a checking question at the kid… and he got it right.  I challenged him, “when should you start doing that”?  He said, “I already am”, and he ran off to catch up with his friends.  I pray that that is so.

But it only gets stranger.  I wrapped up my chat with my satanist friend, and I shook his hand and said, “I’ll be praying for you, I want the best for you.”  As we were parting ways he said, “oh, why not… I’ll give you a hug too”.  And so we did.  If only hugs could convert - this guy would be saved.  But it’s only God who saves, through the gospel.  Oh God, save his soul for your glory!

What a fantastic outreach!

On Wednesday I decided to spend the whole afternoon in online outreach.  One of the conversations that stands out was one with a couple of teens.  One said they were a Christian, so I asked them what they had to do to go to heaven.  They both said, “be good”.  I shared the law and the gospel with them, and moved straight into my first checking question, the response from the Christian was still, “be good”.  So I re-explained and checked again, and to my shock it was still “be good”.  I was lost for words.  She looked at me like I was queer and then disconnected.  She seemed completely blind.  I encounter it so often, I shouldn’t be surprised.  But it’s so frustrating.  Luckily my last conversation of the day was with a “Christian” who did come to grasp the true gospel.

Thank you Lord for the many gospel opportunities of these two days.  And thank you for your support of the Christchurch (NZ) team.  We so appreciated it!  To God, alone, be the glory.
 

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It’s election time in NZ, and on Saturday I had one of the candidates for my electorate knock on my door.  I had a wonderful opportunity to share my thoughts on some important social issues that affect our society, like abortion - which needs to end.  The candidate and the person with them both received a “How we know God exists and why it matters” tract, and a “Life is precious” tract.  Do you have tracts at your door ready to give to whoever comes knocking?  Order some today: NZ, AU, UK.

I also spent four hours in online evangelism.  I was able to join the Aussie team’s online outreach.

Some of the conversations I remember include:

A chat with a young man who instantly started calling me grandpa!  But he sobered up quickly when he realised why I was on Omegle.  He was quiet and didn’t ask many questions, and yet he seemed to grasp the gospel very quickly.  He was very appreciative at the end.

I also had a good chat with a Muslim guy who seemed to be challenged.  Although resistant, there were moments where he was quiet as he contemplated the gospel.  I pleaded with this guy to respond to it.

Sunday was outreach Sunday for Redemption Church.  I had two families join me.  And we also had an old street evangelism friend from years back join us again.  Great to have you with us Daryl!

It was a difficult outreach.  In last Sunday’s report, I mentioned a guy who got arrested (and I didn’t know why).  Well, today he was out again, and I understood why he may have been arrested.  He was obnoxious, and threatening.

Sadly, he disrupted one of my flip chart conversations.  Because of this I lost an opportunity to share the gospel, and also an opportunity to demonstrate how the flip chart works to some team members.

The guy finally went away, but it wasn’t long till he was back.  For this reason, we decided to pack up and move locations.  God in his providence used it for good, as we had some wonderful gospel opportunities in Cathedral Square.

Andy was going to open air, but ended up having a great one to one (well, one to two actually) instead.  Pictured is that conversation - it shows Andy using the “Says Who?” tract.  It has a great “cross” illustration that you can see him using.

I ended up falling into a very long and intellectual conversation with a fellow software engineer.  I kept coming back to how we know that God exists, and it started to frustrate him.  Yet the logic is sound and I refused to budge.  He did get to hear the law and the gospel and he left with a “Says Who?” tract.

While I was in that conversation, some of the less experienced team members had some great opportunities to use the flip chart and share the gospel!  Well done team.  :)
 

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This week I was at the OAC Conference at a camp just north of Wellington.  It was wonderful to be able to spend time in fellowship with fellow evangelists from across New Zealand.  It was encouraging to know I’m not alone in what I do.

On Thursday, we split into teams and drove down to Wellington for outreach.  Our team was based at the waterfront.  We divided into pairs and after some lunch made the most of our time to reach people with the gospel.  I was with Maria, and we focused on starting walk up conversations.  Maria and I agreed we would take turns so that we could learn from each other.  Central Wellington seems to have a lot more people than central Christchurch, so I felt like a kid in a candy shop trying to decide who to approach!

I started with a conversation with a guy on his lunch break, as usual, I was upfront with why I was interrupting his day - but it didn’t put him off, he was happy to talk about what happens after life - although he did mention that he had to head back in five minutes.  He heard the law and the gospel, but he wasn’t convinced that heaven or hell were real. I went back to explain how we all know there is a God and that there must be justice quite a few times.  By this stage we had been talking a lot longer than five minutes, so I wrapped up the conversation saying I didn’t want him to be guilty of stealing time from his employer! ;)  He left with a follow up tract.

Later I approached a guy and struck up a conversation in my usual, direct, way.  He had his bike with him, and was working on a laptop.  It turns out the guy works in behavioural change which led to an interesting conversation where I explained the gospel was the only thing that could make a behaviour change in someone. He agreed that postmodernism didn’t make sense, but there were things (like God) we just couldn’t know.  I agreed that there were many things we didn’t know, but that God wasn’t one of them, and I was able to explain why.  He heard the law and the gospel.  He seemed curious at what I was saying, if not challenged.  He also accepted a follow up tract.

Maria then had a long chat with a young man who had been through some difficult times in his recent past.  It looked like he was trying to discover himself.  He asked deep questions and heard the gospel.

To finish the outreach, we approached two young girls.  Maria took the lead on this conversation and used a little mini flip chart (different to the one I use) to take them through the law and the gospel.  Both these girls had had Catholic backgrounds, but both had heard the gospel before and were wrestling with it (in different ways).  We were able to work through an objection one of the girls had that was holding her back from placing her faith in Christ for the forgiveness of her sins.  They really seemed to appreciate the timely conversation and we left them with multiple gospel tracts.

It’s always wonderful to outreach in new locations - I love it.  And it was great to work alongside evangelists I don’t normally work with it.  It was a great time of idea exchanging.

But it’s great to be home, and looking forward to getting back to my usual outreach routine.  Thanks for your prayer support of the Operation 513 outreach team in Christchurch (NZ).
 

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The weekend saw outreach in the central city.  And there were lots of people out and about on both days.  There were some free winter related events attracting people - which was wonderful, because it provided many gospel conversation opportunities!

And on Saturday, the longer the outreach went, the better those conversations were.  I’m going to mention the last four.

A construction worker was attracted by a local busking act, but ended up talking to me.  Once he realised I wanted to talk about spiritual things, he recognised me and said that I had already talked to him once down by the river.  From memory, I think that was during the last summer mission.  He remembered going through the law, but he didn’t remember the gospel.  So we spent some time focusing on that.  He ended up mentioning a relative who was involved with the WatchTower.  I used that as an opportunity to talk about the difference between a religion requiring works for salvation, and the grace of Jesus dying on the cross to pay our hell fine for us.  They penny really seemed to drop for him, which was really encouraging for me.

Next up I two intellectual types spot my flip chart and decide to take me on.  I was upfront with what the flip chat was about, and they appreciated that and we fell into an apologetical tussel, where I was about to keep touching on the law and the gospel.  They ended up disengaging, one refused a tract, but to my encouragement, the other took one.  It had been a draining conversation, but a very rewarding one.

A lady walked past from a distance but was staring at the flip chart.  I indicated that she should try it, and she decided to come over.  We had a long and frustrating conversation where she insisted that she needed to be good to go to heaven, and yet clearly understanding that she wasn’t good!  She ended up referring to an incident in her past where someone she respected had told her she can’t use God as a doormat.  I laboured to get her to see that we are saved by the grace of God, which would lead us to not want to use God as a doormat.  It was very encouraging watching her processing this vital information.

Finally I had an English couple stop, the guy was very interested in what “the good person test” was all about.  The conversation started talking about a mutual love: cricket, but they guy insisted I talk him through the good person test.  He was an atheist, but he believed in “family values''.  He and his wife came to hear why Jesus is good news and how God is the only basis for having family values.

So some very encouraging opportunities on Saturday!  And Sunday was just as busy.  A team of seven.

My first conversation was with a young couple who heard the law, but the guy became confused while I was explaining the gospel.  “A man has to die so I can go to heaven?”  I used the courtroom analogy to explain why justice is required, and yet how mercy can be given.  He was still confused, so I just flipped to the “Jesus fireball” page.  All of a sudden, understanding seemed to come - Jesus died on the cross for our sin.  They seemed open to what I was sharing, I challenged them to respond to the gospel, after counting the cost that would come.

Later, for the first time ever, I had someone arrested by the Police while next to my flip chart!  I was sharing the gospel with three guys, suddenly I had a strange man standing next to me and trying to interact.  It was difficult, but he ended up sitting behind me, and then he moved behind the guys I was sharing with.  All of a sudden, two Police officers were arresting him.  I have no idea what that was all about.  But I continued to share the gospel with the guys I was focused on.

Throughout the afternoon of outreach, there was a homeless girl sitting not far from me who was watching everything the team was doing (flip charting, handing out tracts, conversations).  Eventually she came over and wanted to try the flip chart herself.  We had a wonderful conversation where we were able to go through the flip chart in full.  It was also a great demonstration for the new team members watching.

It was a busy afternoon of outreach - a real team effort!  Well done team :)
 

 

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On Thursday I spent a couple of hours online before heading out to the bus stops.

I had one very sad encounter near the start.  I was connected to a girl who looked to be about 8 years old.  She wanted to show me something, and she showed me the private parts of a doll.  I was deeply saddened.  I said that this was not a good place for her to be, and asked if her Mum and Dad knew she was doing this.  I then heard a ladies voice say, “she is 13”.  Soon after they disconnected.  Very, very sad.  We live in a broken world that desperately needs the gospel.  I was sad that I didn’t have an opportunity to share the gospel with this girl and the lady.

I was connected to a guy from Mexico who didn’t have good English.  I gave him a link to needGod.net while I continued to try to communicate with him.  All of a sudden, I heard the voice of Ryan Hemelaar sharing the gospel!  It gave me a fright!  But then I realised this guy had gone to needGod.net and had started playing a video of Ryan sharing the gospel.  I chuckled to myself - the power of technology!

I connected with a kid who instantly started cussing me out.  I ignored it, and asked him what he thought happened afterlife.  Slowly he started engaging with me.  He was very sharp mentally and quickly came to grasp the gospel.  Part way through he apologised for swearing at me.  He said there was nothing stopping him from trusting that Jesus had died on the cross for his sins today.  So I challenged him to do that, after counting the cost.

One of the last conversations was with a very open hearted lady who came to an understanding of the gospel and was very thankful.

After this, Andy and I were at the Eastgate and Northlands bus stops for the afternoon.  There were two highlight conversations (of many).

Andy had a very special conversation with a high school student.  Comments from the guy, upon understanding the gospel, were “I’m totally blown away”, and “this has been life changing”.  How very, very encouraging!

The other one was a conversation I had with two high school students.  As they walked past I asked them, “Hey, can I ask you a question?”  They stopped and it turns out they were hardline atheists.  I suddenly had an intense discussion on my hands.  But I enjoyed it.  One of them did all the talking, while the other just listened.  Throughout the conversation I presented counter arguments to everything that was raised.  And over and over, I touched on the law and the good news of Jesus.  At one point, the guy who was listening piped up and said, “It’s really good hearing the argument from the other side”.  May God save them both for His glory!

Friday started with the gospel + abortion outreach, as usual.  The first half was relatively peaceful - I had a wonderful gospel conversation with a young man.  But in the second hour we attracted an emotional and illogical young lady who wouldn’t give up.  Sadly, we couldn’t reason with her, and she was completely closed to the gospel - I didn’t even try.  She ended up attracting two more ladies who wanted to give us a piece of their mind too.  I find the hatred difficult to deal with, yet in love we will persist.

I open air preached in Cathedral Square in the face of hecklers.  One of the hecklers did his best to drown me out.  It sounded terrible.  I tried to engage him, I tried to articulate my love in the face of hatred.  I did my best to moderate the sound of my voice so I could be heard, and yet not sound like I was yelling at people.  I’m not sure if I was very successful.  After presenting the gospel, I gave up and switched to one to one.

I approached a construction worker on the other side of the Square and it was a guy I had talked to the week prior!  We had a great follow up chat, and it was clear that he had been processing our last discussion.  He said he wanted a book where he could learn more about Christianity.  So I pulled out a New Testament and gave it to him with a gospel tract (different to the one he received the week before).  I also gave him a contact card for my local church.  I hope to see him again.

Later, Andy, Roger and I spend a couple of hours at the Bridge of Remembrance.

The highlight conversation was with an Indian guy with a Hindu background.  He heard the law and the gospel, and then I instantly moved into my first checking question.  His response was that he needed to be good to go to heaven.  Not surprised, I went back and re-explained the gospel.  The penny dropped, and a light came over his face.  I was encouraged, so I moved straight into another checking question.  To my amazement, his response was still that he needed to be good to go to heaven!  So I went back to explaining the gospel, in different ways.  I used a courtroom analogy where someone else pays our fine, and his response was, “but I would need to pay him back”.  I continued to labour, and then he said, “I’m really confused”.  The idea that salvation is a gift was so foreign to his thinking - I wasn’t surprised at his comment!  He finally said that he needed to get going, but he wanted to talk more about this.  We agreed email would be best and he sent himself an email from my phone so we could connect.

I finished the day of outreach with two hours online in the evening.  What sticks in my memory was the resistance and hatred I received in response to the hope of the gospel I was attempting to share.  With the help of God, I won’t give up.
 

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Tuesday and Wednesday ended up being days where I feel like I spoke to a lot more “Christians” than usual.  And yes, I used double quotes there.  Some of those I talked to were clearly not a Christian, yet with others it was unclear.

I’m glancing through my notes from my time online on Tuesday and the last three conversations were with people saying they were Christian.  I can’t remember it, but my notes say the first guy didn’t know the gospel.  I remember the last one, it was with a guy who said he was a Christian, but only from a cultural perspective - he pretty much denied that God existed.

The middle conversation was long and good.  The guy had a reasonable understanding of important concepts, yet some of the wording he used made me suspicious he was trusting in his works and not faith alone in Jesus dying on the cross to pay his hell fine.  We got to talk that through.  The guy was really appreciative of the conversation; I encouraged him to get out there and start sharing the good news with others.

After this, the outreach in Riccarton was busy.  In two hours I was able to have gospel interaction with 14 people!

One of the homeless guys Andy and I are getting to know was able to articulate the gospel, even frequents a local church.  Yet when I challenged him on the change that comes with faith in Christ, he quickly backed away.  He clearly doesn’t understand the wonder of the gospel… yet.

I spoke to two groups of boarders from Christchurch Boys High School.  They heard the gospel, but there was no interest - sadly.  One of those kids stands out the most in my memory.  He was the most resistant, but he was the quickest to grasp the gospel.

I had a timely conversation with a “Christian” who initially claimed good deeds would get him to heaven, but with some gentle prodding was able to explain the true way to heaven: Jesus.  It turned pastoral, and something triggered me to be straight with him, I asked what sin he was struggling with.  He looked dejected, and asked if he could marry an unbeliever, using 2 Corinthians 6:14 I was able to encourage him that it would be a disaster if he did.  Interestingly, his father had given him the same advice.  The cost of following Jesus is great.  Only with God’s help can we do it.

My final conversation of the outreach was with one of the Unicef street workers.  She is a “Christian”, even going to a local church and we have mutual friends, and yet, she couldn’t articulate the gospel, again defaulting to good deeds - “following the commandments”.

On Wednesday I started at the northern end of Cathedral Square.  Not many people around, yet I was able to have four conversations in short order.  My first was with a “Christian” who said his goodness would get him to heaven!  With some prompting he was able to give a better answer, yet he insisted that we had to “try”.  Sadly, he had to go before we were really able to unpack it.

Next up I talked to a very open hearted man who knew he wasn’t good and deserved hell, and came to understand the gospel, he said he would trust Jesus died for his sins today.  I then talked to a young lady who came to grasp the gospel.

Finally, I encountered a Christian couple with their son.  Their son wanted to answer my question… “you have to follow the ten commandments”. NOOOOO!  His Dad knew better and said “you have to be born again”.  So I asked, “how does that happen?”  We quickly got to the right answer, and I was able to point their son to it!

I decided to head down to Ara to finish the outreach there.  Straight away I was into yet another conversation with a “Christian”.  After going through the gospel with him, I asked when he last read his Bible, and what Church he was attending - he asked me if I had recommendations.  I told him to get in touch with me, yet I doubt I will hear from him.

I finished up with a bit of an apologetical tussle with a friendly young student - he heard the law and the gospel.

To finish the day, I spent two hours online, and had seven conversations - many of them wonderful.  The highlight was with some black lives that matter.  They warmed up to the conversation and heard the law and the gospel.  I challenged them to respond, but they said they already were.  So I asked them what they said they had to do to go to heaven at the start of the conversation - “be good”.  They could see that they weren’t trusting that Jesus had died for their sin.  They were very challenged.

Christians, we have to get back to basics.  Tell me, what do you have to do to go to heaven?  The answer is NOT, “be a good person”.  But what is the answer?  You need to understand this.  You need to understand the gospel and respond to it if you haven’t already.
 

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Nice sunshine in Christchurch over the weekend.  It was nice to be back in the city on Saturday.

I set up near the bridge of remembrance and had a lovely time greeting people, handing out tracts, and getting into conversations!

Three highlights:

• An older atheistic gentleman stopped to watch the busker performing next to me, and we fell into a lovely chat where he heard the arguments of the other side for a change.  It was encouraging watching him consume the information I was giving him.
• An elderly couple who had Christian relatives, but were deeply resistant to the gospel.  At one point, the lady admitted that she wanted to live her life her way - she wanted to follow her own truth - she would be judged by her own standard.  I kept coming back to the front page of the flip chart and pointing out the various people, like Hitler, who followed their own “truth”.  In the face of refuted logic, she doubled down.
• A wonderful conversation with a pro-lifer who had encouraged us while we were taking heat during recent gospel + abortion outreaches.  I was able to explain why people reject reason and embrace absurdity - a deep love for sin.  And why only the gospel is the power of God for salvation.  He went through the flip chart with me.

Later, I decided to head to Cathedral Square and ended up having some interesting walk up gospel conversations there.  The last one was very encouraging - the gospel penny dropped for him, and he said, “oh, that makes sense”.

On Sunday, Andy joined me for a couple of hours of outreach in the city.  Andy doesn’t really use the flip chart or tracts any more.  He has become pretty successful at getting people to stop with a confident question and getting into conversations from there.

My highlight conversation of the afternoon was fascinating.  I was talking to a guy who had become a Christian a couple of years ago, when a girl stopped abruptly in front of the flip chart and just stared at it.  The Christian understood when I shifted my attention to her - he moved on.  She was keen to give the flip chart a go, and was very engaged, so I was able to slow down and take her all the way through all the pages.  She had no religious background and seemed to be a pretty clean slate following the logic through, coming to understand the gospel - the checking questions confirming.  She agreed that she would want to accept the gift of Jesus.  So I moved to the final page, which gets people to consider the cost (in this life) of the gift (eternal life).

She said the man should forsake (her word) his precious backpack to accept the parachute.  I explained that it would be the same for us considering the gospel, we will forsake the precious but wrong things of this life to accept the gift of eternal life found in Jesus.  She didn’t seem to grasp it, so I gave an example.

Now she seemed to understand - and instantly became resistant.  She said, “oh, I don’t want someone else to take my punishment, I’d rather be judged for my own wrongs.” (she had reverted to thinking she would be good enough).  But I re-explained why that wouldn’t work out well.  She then said it wasn’t fair for Jesus to take her punishment - she wouldn’t want to let that happen.  But I used an analogy to explain why that didn’t make sense either.

But there was no swaying her.  She reluctantly accepted a tract - “in case you change your mind” - then left.  I was amazed.  I have no idea what she was thinking, but the cost was obviously too high for her.

Later, Andy and I were in Cathedral Square and she came past.  She beelined away from me and looked at me with disgust. :(

Our job is to share the gospel, it’s God’s job is to convert.  I leave her in His hands.
 

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Thursday, due to the weather, I spent the whole day in online outreach instead of heading to the bus stops.

In the morning session the stand out conversation was with a guy who had more melanin in his skin than me.  He had obviously had Christian instruction in his life, because he had an understanding of some concepts, but he was completely blind to the gospel and he was resistant to it.  He was open to talk though, and so I laboured with him for a long time.  He had received some philosophical indoctrination that caused him to keep going back to “before God and Jesus…”.  I had to keep trying to remind him how we know there was nothing before the true God.  He would struggle, and then revert back.  At one point he started talking about evolution, and how african’s have 100% human DNA, and others, like europeans have less than that (something in the 90’s).  I was shocked - here is the root of racism!  I pointed it out to him.  And I said, all people are 100% human, because we are made in the image of God.  For this reason, we all have value.  We parted on good terms.

From the afternoon session, I will mention three conversations.

The first brought me to tears afterwards.  I was connected to a mildly curious lady, who started getting more and more engaged.  She heard clear and logical gospel reasoning, and she started asking questions.  Then she started crying, and she opened up about some very painful issues from her life.  I had the privilege of ministering hope to her.  At the end of the conversation, she asked me to pray for her, which I gladly did.  I then prayed for her more after the conversation ended, and broke down in tears myself.  Oh, what a scourge sin is - oh how wonderful the balm of the gospel.  Oh, Lord, have mercy.  May she place her trust in you alone Jesus for the forgiveness of her sin.

Later, I was connected to a lady from Brazil.  She too started hearing clear and logical gospel reasoning, she became engaged, and started asking questions.  Then her phone rang.  She answered it, and then came back to me and said, “wait five minutes, ok?”.  She then went out the door.  She had to do something but didn’t want the conversation to end, so I decided to wait.  Sure enough, she came back and said, “one more minute!”.  I smiled as she headed out again.  Within a minute she was back and ready to continue the conversation!  We continued to talk, but she seemed to get to a point where she was overloaded, and needed time to process what she was hearing.  She had more questions, but now wasn’t the time.  I gave her a link to needGod.net where she could ask more questions if she wanted to.  It was a wonderful chat.

The final conversation I’ll mention was with a girl who only wanted to type her responses (fine with me), and she didn’t show her face (I’m pretty sure it was a girl).  She was very open, and seemed to come to grasp the gospel, going from thinking “just be a good person and do good things” would get her to heaven, to “have trust in Jesus; [who] died for my sins”.  Some of her other comments: “yeah i’m actually not as stressed”, “thank you so much for telling me this :))”, and “i’m literally so thankful that you were the person i found and not some scary naked dude”.

The gospel + abortion outreach was peacful and wonderful.  Read about it here.

We then moved to Cathedral Square.  Marty preached, there was a good crowd listening.  There were a lot of other Christains around engaging people with the gospel.  I had three wonderful one to one conversations.  The highlight was one with a guy who was drunk and stoned.  In spite of his condition, the hope of the gospel seemed to be having an effect - he seemed deeply impacted.  I gave him two types of tracts, and I told him to put them in his pocket and ready them when he had a clear head.

A team of us then headed towards Cashel Mall.  Before we had even made it there, we had gospel conversations with four individuals!

We then spent a busy couple of hours bringing the hope of the mercy of God to people.  It was great to have Graham with us again.  He had been watching the Operation 513 online evangelism via You Tube, and was able to use the tips he had been learning to great effect in his walk up conversations.

I finished the day of outreach with a couple more hours of online evangelism in the evening.  The highlight conversation was with two guys who were extremely slow at grasping basic concepts.  I was tired from a long day, and I wanted to give up.  But I didn’t.  Jesus didn’t just die for those that are sharp in mind.  The gospel makes it possible for anyone to be made right with God.  So I laboured with them, as they were open to it.  It took time, but they seemed to come to grasp the gospel intellectually.  Yet only God can change hearts, may there new found understanding of the gospel, turn to the joy of salvation.

God, thank you for all you do.  Thank you for life, thank you that you died for us to give us the gift of eternal life!  May you receive the reward of your suffering.  Save people for your glory Lord.  Amen.

 

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A wonderful couple of days of outreach in Christchurch (NZ).  And I had an exciting opportunity to share the gospel outside my usual routine.

I had just started eating dinner with my family when the doorbell rang.  That doesn’t normally happen, so I went to answer it and it was a guy who wanted to do a survey!  Praise God, no easier way to get a gospel conversation started.  I agreed to do the survey, and his first question was: “what is your occupation?”.  I answered: “I’m an evangelist”.  He responded with, “oh, ok”.  Then he paused and asked, “This is not a question on the survey, but, what is an evangelist?”  I smiled, and responded with, “I tell people about Jesus.”  He then asked, “How do you go about that?”  So I said, “I walk up to people and I ask them ‘excuse me, I’ve got a question for you, it’s a deep question, what do you think happens after life?’”  I then added, “If you know there is a hell, and Jesus made a way for us to go to heaven - it’s the most important thing you can tell anyone.”  He seemed fascinated.

He completed the survey - he was trying to sell insurance.  When he was done, I asked him, “so, what do you think happens afterlife?”  He was glad I had asked, because his curiosity was piqued.  And so I got to share the law and the gospel with him!  Although it was quicker than I like because: a) he was working and needed to move on, and b) it was freezing cold outside!  I had a tract in my wallet and passed it to him - he thanked me.  The whole exchange took no longer than five minutes.  Are you ready to share the gospel at a moment’s notice?

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
- 1 Pe 3:15 ESV

A great way to get prepared is to buy a mini flip chart (NZ or AU) and practice in your family or personal devotion times.  Or try some online evangelism with some strangers, but you’ll need to put in some precautions first, check out how.

Earlier in the day I was in Cathedral Square.  But before I got there, I had a wonderful opportunity to approach a guy on Colombo street who had never really thought about what happens after life, but came to understand why it’s important to do so.  The Building / Builder; Universe / Universe Maker analogy made him smile with understanding and he became engaged to hear the law and the gospel.  He was sharp, and checking questions confirmed he was understanding.

In Cathedral Square I had pretty much non stop opportunities to talk with people.  Three guys who were resistant and doubled down when hearing the Building / Builder; Universe / Universe Maker analogy.  There was a guy who recognised me and said he was half a Christian!  We had a wonderful conversation where it became evident he wasn’t a Christain at all and we wrestled through some logic for what a Christian is and why he should become one.

But the highlight conversation was with a guy who had converted to Buddhism about four weeks ago.  He heard the law and the gospel, and quickly came to grasp it.  He said there was nothing stopping him from trusting Jesus paid his hell fine today - even after I got him to think through the cost, including letting go of Buddhism.  He said he would study the tract I give him (pictured).

After this, I headed home and joined the Aussie team for some online outreach.  I had a string of great conversations:

• 2 Catholics who came to understand the gospel.  One of them had an “ah ha” moment.

 

• A stubborn intellectual - didn’t make any progress.

 

• A lovely lady who was scared I was going to tell her she was going to hell, but came to understand the gospel instead.  There was nothing stopping her from trusting.  I pointed her to the Bible, a local church, and needGod.net.

 

• A young man, very open hearted, I couldn't hear him (he responded by typing), but heard the gospel, and was also pointed to a Bible and a local church.

 

• A guy from LA who had tragically seen his Dad’s suicide! :(  He said there was no way of knowing if there was an after life, and resisted when he heard the logic.  But his real issue was that he didn’t like God.  He said, “If I was God, I wouldn’t have done it this way”.  After hearing him say that, I was pretty direct with him - but he appreciated it.  He heard the gospel.  And he appreciated the conversation - he thanked me, and encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing.

Tuesday I was online before heading to Riccarton.

The highlight conversation online was with a young Catholic guy, sharp, but slow to respond.  He was trusting his good deeds to get him to heaven before the conversation, but now understands that it's only trusting Jesus died on the cross for his sin that gets him to heaven.  "Thank you so much for teaching me this", he said.

In Riccarton, the highlight conversation was with a guy who had become a Christian only a few weeks ago!  It was a very encouraging conversation for me.  Although his language wasn’t precise, it was clear that he understood the gospel, and he was overjoyed about it!  He has a passion for evangelism, so I demonstrated the flip chart to him, which he really enjoyed.  We discussed repentance.  And he talked about the change that had occurred in his life.  We are Facebook friends now, and he said he’d be keen to join me on an outreach sometime - even if he just observes initially.

And you would be welcome to join me on an outreach - any time. :)
 

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It’s been a long, but very good week.  Writing this report is my last task before a day of rest!

It was raining in Christchurch on Saturday, so I decided to livestream some online gospel conversations instead of heading into the city (although I’m really looking forward to doing a Saturday city outreach again soon).

The conversation that stands out the most from Saturday was the last one.  It was with a young man from Georgia, which is on the east coast of the Black Sea, above Turkey.  It doesn’t cease to amaze me how easy it is to reach people with the gospel through technology!  His parents are Orthodox, but he had clearly rejected it.  Yet he was a sharp thinker, and up for a discussion.

The highlight moment was when he said, “if that’s true, then I can trust in Jesus and then do anything I want”.  I was overjoyed, he was grasping the grace of God!  And yet I was able to explain why we wouldn’t want to “do anything” if we understand what Jesus did for us, and we trust in Him.

On Sunday I had the honour and privilege of being able to preach at the meeting of Grace Baptist Church where I taught on Mark 10:17-31.  Funnily, like the last time I preached, an alarm went off half way through!  Luckily this time it was a security alarm instead of a fire alarm, so I didn’t have to finish off in the open air!

I headed into the city afterwards for a couple of hours of outreach.  I was surprised at how much the preaching in the morning had taken out of me.  So I set up my flip chart, and just concentrated on smiling and handing out tracts.

My first conversation was a hard one.  An older gentleman, a Dawkins devotee, decided to take me on.  He didn’t want to talk, just ram his religion down my throat.  I tried to reason with him, but he was so arrogant and pride filled, that I decided to just listen to him go.  And he really loved the sound of his voice.  I just listened and prayed for him.  I took an opportunity to interrupt him and ask his name and shake his hand.  And then let him continue to lecture me and tell me I need to read everything Dawkins wrote.  Finally he came to a stop, and declared he had won the argument.  I smiled, and he turned to depart, when I asked, “Brian, can I ask you a question?  Have you ever told a lie?”  He admitted he had, and agreed it was wrong.  He admitted to stealing as well.  He hadn’t murdered anyone, but when I said, “Well, Jesus said…”, he started railing again.  I let him say his piece before he finally got bored and moved on.  I said “God bless” as he did.  May the Spirit use the few words of the law that he heard to soften that hard soil.  God willing, he will have other opportunities to hear the gospel.

Soon after that conversation, I had another elderly man walk past, point his stick at me and say, “Protestant Bigotry”.  I said, “God bless you sir.”

I then had a follow up with a regular.  He now knows how to say, “I need to trust that Jesus died on the cross to pay my hell fine”.  Yet it’s clear that he doesn’t fully understand what that means, and so I had the opportunity to continue explaining.  I continue to pray for him regularly.

I had a brief conversation with another elderly man, a Catholic - who heard some of the law, but sadly not any of the gospel.

And I finished the outreach with a brief conversation with two Sikhs.  Sadly, they heard the law, and then shut down the conversation too.

I headed to my car, exhausted.  But not discouraged, because my focus is on the glory of God, and not visible fruit.  God granted me much success today in allowing the opportunities He did.  The results are in His hands.

Thank you, Lord, for saving a wretch like me!

PS, I forgot to take photo's for this report, I hope you enjoy the stagged one! :)
 

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