Battle Log

Thursday and Friday are the busiest days for the Christchurch (NZ) team.  Thursday: two hours online, then two hours at Northlands bus stops, and then two hours at Eastgate bus stops.  Friday: two hours outside Christchurch hosptial for the gospel + abortion outreach, an hour in Cathedral Square, two hours in Cashel Mall, and then a two hour evening outreach in the city.  Tiring, but very rewarding work!  We thank you for your prayer and other support.

Some highlights of the many conversations I had on Thursday:

• Northlands: a group of five teens walk past and I politely say: “excuse me, may I ask you a question, it’s a deep question: what do you think happens after life?”  Three are not interested, but two very much are, and so they all stay for a long conversation.  It turns out that one of them is a Christian and wrestling with unanswered questions.  The focus of the conversation was some apologetics, but also how we are justified before God and the place of good deeds in the life of a Christian.  Of course, the gospel was center stage in the conversation.  Interestingly, the non Christian grasped the gospel quicker than the Christian seemed to gain clarity on it.  I could tell the Christian was really grateful for the conversation - I was greatly encouraged.

 

• Northlands: last week I wrote about a conversation with a satanist that was frustratingly interrupted.  Praise God I got to see this guy again today and was able to have a wonderful follow up conversation where he heard the gospel!

 

• Eastgate: sadly I had some very pastorally focused conversations with two people who had suffered heinous crimes of rape and abuse.  In one of the conversations the person was very bitter, and resistant to the gospel, so I just spent time doing my best to listen.  This lady seemed starved of conversation, and just wanted to talk.  After a long conversation, it came to an end, and this lady smiled, and gave me a hug.  I was honoured.  She gladly took a gospel tract from me.  Maybe what she wasn’t ready for in words, she will accept in writing?  Oh how desperately is the gospel needed in this broken world.  There is hope in Jesus!!!

 

• Eastgate: a conversation with a guy who knew a lot about Christian things, but no understanding of the gospel.  The guy was actually a bit scary, and I’m really glad Andy was with me.  Weirdly, another, very broken looking, guy interrupted the conversation wanting money for drugs!  The guy I was talking to said he could help him, and so off they went.  They both took tracts.  Oh, how unable I am to change these people.  They need Jesus!  We must get out to share the gospel, it is the power of God for salvation!

It was another difficult outreach outside Christchurch hospital.  You can read about it here.

We didn’t open-air preaching in Cathedral Square, there were kids busking.  Instead we spent the time in one to one gospel conversations.  It was great to have the OAC crew there with us.  We then moved to the Bridge of Remembrance end of Cashel Mall.  Sadly, all my conversations in the afternoon were with hard hearted resistant people.  Don’t get me wrong they were good conversations - but they just didn’t see the wonder of the gospel, or wouldn’t even let me get to the gospel.  Oh God, have mercy on the hard hearts of this city and nation.  Raise up labourers, Lord, to plow the soil and sow gospel seed!

Yet I had one highlight from the afternoon, it was a follow up with a young man I’ve talked to maybe three times before over the last year and a half.  He now works on the Convention Center construction site close to Cathedral Square.  He claims he is now trusting that Jesus has paid his hell fine.  I encouraged him to get in touch and to get involved in a local church - I invited him to mine.  I deliberately left the ball in his court.

The evening outreach was, yet again, wonderful.  Lots of people out and about - in spite of the cold and wet.  Mike and I had two stand out conversations.

The first was with a guy who had a Hindu dad, and Lutheran mum, and went to a Catholic school.  He had a real melting pot of philosophies!  But I challenged him; when you boil it all down - what is the truth?  He came to hear the gospel.  But multiple rounds of checking questions and explanations were required for it to really start sticking.  He really appreciated the chat, and left with a follow up tract.

The last conversation of the evening was on a floodlit basketball half court.  Two teens (Catholics, from Invercargill) were sitting on the court, so Mike and I joined them and had a wonderful gospel chat.  The girl said that we have to keep the ten commandments to go to heaven - that was a set up!  They quickly realised that they could never meet the standard.  When the guy heard the gospel, a broad smile of understanding came across his face - it was a precious moment!
 

---

Tuesday’s Riccarton outreach was busy.  Roger was with me, as usual, but we had little time for interaction due to the # of conversations we were having.

And I ended up talking with a lot of Christians.  Many of whom really appreciated the clarity of the gospel presented.  One conversation that really stands out in my mind is a conversation with a guy (a university student) who was only a year or so old in his faith.

I had a conversation with an Asian guy who was attracted by the good person test flip chart.  This led to a long conversation where I was able to step through all the checking questions.  Yet, he seemed to take offense when I would constantly prompt him to reiterate what it was that would get him to heaven.  He would say, “I know what you mean, but I’m not going to say it”.  Yet, he was keen to stick around and continue the conversation.  I wasn’t able to read what he was really thinking.  Yet he heard the law and the gospel.

I noticed Roger was in a tense sounding conversation across the road.  It happens from time to time.

But then I was quickly into another conversation with 3 teen guys.  They were keen to try the good person test and we quickly fell into a very good discussion.  Roger came over at one point, but I didn’t want to lose focus with the 3 guys - so I did my best to ignore Roger.  But he mentioned he had some frozen yogurt for me!?  He placed it on the seat next to me and left me to it.  The three guys came to grasp the gospel, and to my surprise, one of them said nothing would stop him from trusting that Jesus had died on the cross to pay his hell fine - even after considering the cost!  It was a wonderful conversation.  He wanted to know what church I went to, and indicated that he would be interested in coming along.  He knows how to get in touch.  They are in God’s hands.

I then turned my attention to the frozen yogurt.  It turns out that the tense sounding conversation Roger was having across the road was not tense.  The guy was just passionate.  He and his family are Muslims, and they now own the SOYO frozen yogurt place Roger sets his flip chart up in front of each Tuesday afternoon.  In spite of our significant religious difference, they blessed Roger and I with some frozen yogurt each!

After the outreach I went over to indicate my thanks to them (through the window).  I was beckoned inside, and offered a top up!  I was touched.  I’m not sure what Roger said during that conversation - but they sure like us.  May we be able to get to know them better, may they come to grasp the gospel and only trust only in Jesus to be saved from their sin and the justice of God.  Truly, our only hope!

Wednesday there was rain, so I decided to spend the whole afternoon online - and what a wonderful harvest field it is!

Some of the conversations that stand out include a discussion with a Muslim man living in Chicago.  He heard the law, and seemed to grasp the logic of the bad news, but didn’t seem too concerned.  Yet he did want to hear the good news of the gospel.  He patiently consumed the knowledge I was giving him.  I could tell he wasn’t convinced, and yet he seemed to appreciate what I was doing.  He said he would check out needGod.net.

Later, I had an epic conversation with a young man who thought he would be going to heaven as long as he enjoyed his life, and didn’t murder anyone.  Our conversation was a wake up call that he really appreciated.  He said that he trusted Jesus had paid his hell fine “5 minutes ago”.  And then he thanked me for what I was doing, and told me to keep doing it.  I encouraged him to join me - and he agreed!  I pointed him to a Bible and a local church in his area.

A very encouraging couple of days of outreach, both locally and online.  Jesus, may you receive the reward of your suffering.  Save people for your glory!
 

---

Today was outreach Sunday for Redemption Church in Cashel Mall, Christchurch (NZ).  I was told there were over 20 people out sharing the gospel today!  Praise God for that!  Some of the younger ones handed out tracts, while others paired up with mini-flip charts to strike up conversations via walk up, and still more others used large flip charts.

At the beginning, I wanted to show some of the team the new, extended flip chart with its multiple layers of checking questions and great art work.  There was quite a crowd of Christians gathered round in a semicircle.  Early on, a bystander, wondering what was going on, joined the semi-circle and ended up hearing the law and gospel!

We then split up and moved into the harvest field.  It was a warm day for winter, and there were lots of people about.

I was paired up with Chris.  Our first encounter was with a blind man, who had had cancer.  Sadly, he was angry at God because of this.  He was barely giving us his time, so I had to go quick to try to keep him engaged.  With God’s help, I was able to address his objections, and start delivering information this man needed to consider.  Amazingly, I was able to hit on the law, and the gospel at different moments in the exchange.  He moved on with a tract to read.

I then turned around and noticed a group of six teens standing right next to the flip chart I was supposed to be manning.  I approached them and asked if they would like to try the good person test - they were keen!  It was a wonderful conversation where they were engaged enough for me to be able to take them all the way through the presentation (pictured) - including the checking questions.  And then answer some of their objections to boot.  I challenged them to respond to the gospel, not just leave it as intellectual information to store away.

I spent a lot of time during the outreach trying to encourage the team.  It’s so much easier when I’m on my own, or with an experienced team.  But oh, to see more labourers raised up.  I was overjoyed to see Christians growing in their confidence as God gave them success in delivering the gospel!  The extra work for me was so worth it!  Glory to God alone.

Later I paired with Anna.  We spied two ladies across the road, who looked to be in a position to talk - so we decided to approach.  Praise God, they were open to chat.  One was a Christian, the other not.  The gospel was proclaimed while Anna and I sat on the pavement in front of them.

So wonderful to be able to work with the Church in this way.  Well done Redemption Church family!  It’s a pleasure to be a part of you, and serve our Lord next to you.  :)
 

---

Today I’ve spent most of my report time writing about a difficult gospel + abortion outreach we had.  So this report is going to be short.

Thursday we were at the bus stops again.  Not many people out, I guess due to school holidays.  I wasn’t able to get into my usual run of gospel conversations.  Yet Andy seemed to be having long conversations: one after the other.  Praise God for that!

Yet I had two highlights:

The first was so shocking, I didn’t know how to react.  I had two Christians approach me to share the gospel with me!  Praise God for that!  They were Uni students who can’t be on campus due to Covid-19 restrictions, and so they were venturing out!

The second was an odd pair of follow up conversations.  I approached a guy who looked vaguely familiar - he smiled and said he had talked to me before in Riccarton.  Him being a satanist, we fell into an interesting conversation when we were interrupted by another guy I’ve talked to before.  It became a three way discussion that, frustratingly, I couldn’t bring any gospel focus to.  The first guy's bus came, and then the second guy's bus came straight after.  Lord willing I will have another opportunity to talk to them again.

On Friday, the sun was shining bright!  After the gospel + abortion outreach, we were in Cathedral Square - it was nice to see lots of people out and about.  And there were lots of Christians around engaging those people in gospel conversations!

Later, a team of five were at the corner of Cashel and Colombo.  Most of my time was dominated by a long conversation with a Muslim girl I had talked to before at Northlands bus stop.  I was on the flip chart sharing the gospel with two people when she walked up and waited - obviously wanting to talk with me.  Sadly, she was as resistant as the last time I talked to her.  And yet, I was encouraged that she wanted to talk again.

Very grateful for all the opportunities God gave us over these two days.  May we continue to grow in our ability to represent Christ well.  And may He, in His grace, use our feeble attempts in the meantime.  Soli Deo Gloria.
 

---

Still plenty of rain about on Tuesday and Wednesday, but there were enough breaks in it for outreaches to Riccarton and the city to go ahead.

On Tuesday I started with some online outreach before meeting Roger in Riccarton.  I didn’t take any notes, and I talk to so many people online, I just can’t remember any of the specific conversations.  But something in my memory suggests I had a run of open hearted people to talk to (in contrast to Saturday).

But I did take notes when I was in Riccarton.

My first interaction of note was with an older lady.  Her demographic doesn’t normally stop, so I was surprised that she did.  When I asked her what she had to do to go to heaven, she said, “believe the gospel”.  I instantly assumed I was talking to a Christian… but she wasn’t.  She was an ex-mormon who still had “works for salvation” engrained.  Sadly, she didn’t stay for me to explain the true gospel, but she said she would read the “After Life” tract I gave her.

Next I had a lengthy follow up with an elderly lady - a doctor who had been a missionary in Africa (I think I’ve written about her before?).  We discussed justification in depth.

Between conversations I was standing next to my flip chart, when a car came round the corner.  The girl in the passenger seat instantly recognised me, and she tapped on the window a few times.  I smiled, thinking I might know her.  But then she gave me the finger as she went past.  I felt like I’d been punched in the gut, but then I felt honoured that I’m even recognised… and why I’m recognised.  All this happened in a split second.  I have no idea who it is, but I genuinely want the best for her.  (I prayed for her at the revival prayer meeting that evening.)

I then had an intellectual tussle with some vegan’s.  They resisted the clear proof that God exists.  I mentioned a few times that they didn’t have to stay and talk with me - but the guy kept wanting to discuss.  They heard the law and the gospel.  It felt like I didn’t get through, but at the end, the guy shook my hand and thanked me for the discussion.  Maybe he will think about it?  I leave them in the hands of God.

By the end of the outreach the rain was falling, I stuck around, and I’m glad I did as I guy stopped to talk.  It turns out I’ve talked to him twice before - once in the city, and once in Riccarton (about a year ago).  I didn’t remember him (he said he used to have long hair).  He was from Colombia.  He wanted to go through the flip chart again, and was keen to allow me to go in depth - even in the rain!

While this was happening, Roger had a good conversation with a Muslim man from Somalia (pictured).  Roger also had lots of good conversations through the outreach.

Wednesday I was feeling tired and timid.  I was in the city.  To get myself going, I prayed and then I parked myself at the southern entrance to Cathedral Square to hand out tracts.  Within moments I was into a good conversation with two skater girls (school holidays have started).  From then on, I ended up having follow up conversations.

I got home in time to join the Aussie team for online outreach.  I had some great conversations.  A highlight was with two girls from Texas who were trusting in their goodness to get them to heaven, came to grasp the gospel (justification through faith alone in Jesus alone).

And this chat with someone I couldn’t see or hear (but they could hear me), it’s interesting reading their side of the conversation:

Stranger: Hi
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: I think we go to god and god will take care of me
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: You have to be responsible and not do bad stuff
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: No
Stranger: Maybe a brush from my mom though
Stranger: No
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: I would be guilty
Stranger: Hell
Stranger: No one
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: Was it evs husband I forgot his name
Stranger: Santa
Stranger: He was hung or nails to the cross
Stranger: I really don’t know
Stranger: Hell
Stranger: Oh heaven yes
Stranger: You have to be responsible and don’t do anything bad
Stranger: Jesus?
Stranger: He died
You: TRUST
Stranger: Yes it actually does I’ve never thought about it really
Stranger: Agreed
Stranger: TRUST
Stranger: God
Stranger: Jesus ?
Stranger: He died
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: No but thank you for teaching me this
Stranger: Yes u can it’s ok
Stranger: Heven
Stranger: Beacuse Jesus died for him to cross to heaven
Stranger: I would feel grateful for him risking his life to save me
Stranger: No way I would thank him
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: Yes it does
Stranger: Yes me and my mom always go to church but now we can’t beacuse of corona
Stranger: I don’t remember I always read it with my mom but she’s been busy
Stranger: Yes
You: "ESV Bible" in the app store, or at ESV.org
You: it's free
You: start in John - in the second half of the Bible
Stranger: Ok thank you
Stranger: Low country
Stranger: Catholic I think
You: to find a good church in your area: 9marks.org/church-search/
You: needGod.net
Stranger: Thank you really
Stranger: Bye 👋
You have disconnected.

Very grateful for God’s great patience holding so we would have two more days to reach people with the message of his mercy!  Praying for fruit, and that it would glorify Him alone.
 

---

On Saturday morning we had more rain and cold wind, and so I opted for online outreach rather than heading into Christchurch city.

It was one of those days where you just get a string of difficult conversations.  Most of them were with deeply resistant intellectual types - very tiring mentally.  But the last conversation was quite good - although I have to admit to getting frustrated, the young man just wasn’t getting key concepts, and I had to continue to go back to re explain.  Yet, he heard the gospel, and was quite appreciative of the chat.

On Sunday the weather was quite mild - even warm.  The first day of spring? :)  Andy, Thomas and I headed to Cashel Mall.

Andy seemed to be pretty much constantly talking to people about the gospel or related concepts.  Not using a flip chart - just politely approaching people.  He mentioned that one of the guys he talked to lost his wife in the mosque attack a year ago :(  Our city has some deep wounds.

Thomas also had a number of gospel chats via the flip chart.

My conversations were mainly difficult ones right up till the last conversation, which was really good!

An example of a difficult conversation: two young ladies express interest in trying the good person test, and then just as I was starting, two other young ladies want to be involved.  But there was much resistance.  One of the girls kept insisting she would be innocent if judged by perfection.  Eventually I said, “well, if you are perfect, I can’t help you - I’m here to give good news to people that aren't.”.  She and her friend left.  I asked the last two if they wanted to hear the good news, but they weren’t really interested.  And then one of them said, “oh, actually I take all that back, I think I’d be innocent too”.  Sadly, they left without the good news too. :(

Yet my last conversation of the outreach was with a young man with an Iranian background.  He wasn’t a muslim any more, and he was investigating a local church some of his friends went to.  Yet he didn’t know the gospel and was mildly resistant.  Yet he slowly warmed to the conversation and, after working through checking questions a number of times, came to grasp what the gospel really meant.  I pleaded with this young man to respond to it.  He seemed to appreciate the conversation in the end.  I leave him in the hands of God.
 

---

We finally get some sun in Christchurch (NZ) - and rainbows to boot!

Andy & I were able to do full outreaches at Northlands and Eastgate on Thursday afternoon.

But in the morning, I did my usual stint of online outreach which included conversations with people from the UK, Egypt and Brazil.  The highlight was a conversation with two teen girls who came to grasp the gospel (had to run through checking questions quite a few times).  One of them said, “I’ve learned more from you in this conversation than I have from my RE teacher!”

At Northlands I had a couple of highlight follow up conversations.

The first was with a guy who was drunk the last time I talked to him.  He remembered our previous conversation, and he was a whole lot more reasonable now.  It was fascinating getting the other person's honest insight into a previous conversation.  I wasn’t able to talk to him for long as, sadly, he was heading to meet someone to buy drugs.  But he took a tract.  I hope to see him again.

The next was with a guy who had alcohol on his breath.  Because of our previous interactions, we fell into an easy conversation.  To my surprise, out of the blue he came to tears over his sin of drunkenness.  I told him of the hope of the sacrifice of Jesus to pay the fine for our sin, and if we trust in Him, God won’t leave us as we are.  He opened up about his past involvement in the church and that there was a point in his younger life where he was like me - telling people about the gospel.  I gave him my contact details, and I hope to see him again, also.

At Eastgate I had some fascinating conversations with a guy who believed in Norse mythology (closed, resistant), and a kid who believed in Greek mythology (open, switched on).

Andy and I then had a very interesting conversation with a guy and his daughter.  Believe it or not, he worked in the paranormal - getting rid of bad spirits (or something like that).  And he said something amazing: “they hate the name of Jesus Christ”.  You’d think that would be a clue, but this guy hadn’t looked into who Jesus Christ is.  We worked on changing that for them this day.

I spoke to two kids who went to Christian schools and went to a local church - sadly, they thought keeping the 10 commandments would get them to heaven.  I did my best to share the gospel in the short time I had with them.

Friday was a difficult day for me.

It started with the gospel + abortion outreach outside the hospital.  You can read about it here.

We then moved into the city for open air preaching and one to one gospel conversations.
My time that afternoon was focused on a conversation that started with a guy walking up to me and said, “Hi Glen!”.  My face was blank, so he said, “we talked for about half an hour in Riccarton a while back”.  I apologised that I didn’t remember him, but then asked, can you remember what I said you have to do to go to heaven? (I assumed I would have shared the gospel with him.)  He went with, basically, “be a good person”.  (if I had shared the gospel, it certainly hadn’t stuck).  We feel into a deep conversation where we pretty much disagreed on everything (just like with the guy I talked to on Tuesday), yet it was a very amicable conversation.  At one point I thanked him for being so nice about what we were disagreeing on - a refreshing change from the usual way people talk to me.

With the intensity of the discussion, I became very tired.  I told him this, yet he didn’t want to stop.  I wonder if he was trying to prove something to himself?  He brought up a controversial subject and wanted my opinion.  But I refused to answer saying that we needed to resolve what the basis for right and wrong was.  He then started to lose his cool, “I don’t want to talk about that!”, and then very subtly he went into attack mode.  I stopped him.  And I said, “you’re slipping”.  He was confused.  I reminded him of what I said earlier.  “You’ve started doing what other people do, attacking God and me” (rather than the argument).  And the conversation finally wrapped up then.  We parted amicably.  But I was exhausted.

As I reflect back, just like with the guy I talked to on Tuesday, I was able to address his conscience with the law - and he didn’t argue.  And I was able to explain the gospel (yet he certainly didn’t appreciate it).  I just have to leave him in God’s hands.  Oh God, please have mercy!

The day finished with an evening outreach with Mike.  And it was a highlight on a tough day.  There were lots of people out and about, even though it was a really cold evening.

I only have time to talk about the highlight conversation (but there were many wonderful conversations).  A lady walked past, and I offered her a tract and asked her what she thought happened after life.  She stopped, took the tract, and looked at me.  She said she had been thinking about that a lot, especially in the last few days.  Her dad was a Christian, but her sister and she were not.  She didn’t understand the gospel, and it was my privilege to share it with her.  I ended up sharing with her from Matthew chapter 6, about how we don’t need to worry.  I talked about how God feeds the birds - how much more valuable are you?  And then I remembered the big new bird mural behind me - she was looking at it!  I said that I don’t believe in coincidences - that we were meant to meet so she could hear the gospel.  She thanked me, and moved on.  She said she would study the tract.  God, change her heart, and save her for your glory.  This is the part only you can do, Lord.

 

---

Rain, and rain.

"Christchurch had just 12 minutes of sunshine on Monday last week, and hadn't seen the sun since, MetService meteorologist Dan Corrigan said.” - Stuff.co.nz

Thank goodness for the fruitful harvest field of online evangelism.  I spent most of my outreach time on Tuesday and Wednesday there.  But, there was enough of a break in the rain on Tuesday that I was keen to get to Riccarton.  For a change, I set up my flip chart on the corner of Rotherham and Riccarton roads.  It was cold!  And one of my regulars said, “you won’t get many people stopping to talk today!”.  But if you are prayerfully patient, the fish will come - and they did.

And the first to come along was a follow with two high school students I saw a week ago in the city.  They looked really surprised to see me.  I started re-engaging them, but one of them in particular really didn’t want to talk again, and so they moved on.  They had a third friend with them this time, and they received a tract before moving on.

A kid on a bike went past, and then five minutes later he was back with some sushi.  He stopped at the flip chart and the fish was on the line.  He was quite engaged and open, so I was able to pull out my mini (detailed) flip chart and take the time to thoroughly explain the good news to him.  Sadly, it turned out his uncle had died a month ago, I was able to express my sympathy.

Later I had a Polynesian guy go past.  I offered to take him through the good person test.  He said he needed to go to the bank, but that he would come back.  And he did.  This guy had “good deeds as the way to heaven” deeply ingrained in him and I had to labour with him through the checking questions - the idea of justification by faith alone was very foreign to him, and not surprisingly it turns out he was catholic.  As foreign as it was to his thinking, he started to grasp the good news of the gospel.  He took a parting tract, and I left him in God’s hands.

My next conversation started with a type of guy that usually doesn't stop to give me the time of day.  So I initially went fast to try to capture his attention.  I was surprised when it worked.  They guy was actually very intelligent, and it turns out he is a medical student.  We got into a deep conversation where we disagreed on pretty much everything.  I didn’t understand why he was giving me so much time.  At one point it started raining (very lightly, I didn’t even notice), and he backed up to go under the shelter of the shop front.  He looked at me and said, “I don’t want to get wet” - he was inviting me to join him under shelter - which I promptly did.  I normally finish the outreach at 5pm, but that conversation went till 5:30pm!  It was dark before he finally moved on.  I was deeply frustrated - I felt like I made no progress with him.  And yet, I realised he had heard the law (one of the only things he didn’t argue with) and he did get to hear the gospel.

Earlier in the day, while online, I had some frustrating conversations with people who I really had to labour with on the law.  One eventually slowed down to actually listen through her Christainess hazy and started to grasp what I was saying - and I was able to share the gospel.  But the other just said, “you’re starting to make me feel mad”, and she disconnected.

Oh to see people changed by God!  I don’t often feel like this, but I came away feeling a desperation for it.  To see God move.  This came out in our weekly team prayer meeting at Andy’s.  I sobbed crying out to God to have mercy.  I’m tired of the stubborn rejection, oh to see people respond to the gospel and make Jesus their Lord.  Impossible; but possible for God!  (See Mark 10:17-31.)  That was a good time of prayer.

Wednesday saw the heaviest rain of all (pictured)!  I didn’t attempt venturing out, and spent the afternoon online.

My very first conversation and I was connected with a guy in tears!  He was so relieved that I was willing to stay to talk, and he just poured out his hurts!  I did my best to listen - I nearly came to tears myself early on!  But I also started to point him to the hope of Jesus.  He eventually came to grasp the gospel.  I’m going to be praying for this young man.

Later, I had two separate conversations with Catholics who were trusting their good deeds and came to grasp the gospel - although one of them I had to really labour with - checking questions to the rescue!

The highlight conversation of the afternoon was a conversation with two girls.  One who was bisexual, and the other lesbian.  But unlike a recent difficult conversation, these two girls were very open hearted, and seemed to really understand what I was saying.  They understood the grace and love of God, but that God would not leave them as they are but would change them, and help them in their war with sin if they trust that Jesus paid their hell fine.

As I’m writing this (Wednesday evening), the rain is lashing down on the roof!  But the forecast is saying we might get some sun by Friday.  Thank you for your prayer and support.  God bless.
 

---

Saturday and Sunday… more rain in Christchurch (NZ).  And I praise God for it - honest! :)

But it did mean the team stayed indoors and reached the lost online.

Four hours on Saturday.  My first conversation of note was with an intelligent young guy from Kazakhstan (he was an ex-Muslim).  It was quite a long conversation where sadly we didn’t even get to the law let alone the gospel.  But it was still a very good conversation where he was challenged on how he knows God exists.  He could see the logic of it, but he didn’t like it.  He changed the subject and just wanted to talk about other stuff for a while (which was fine), but there's nothing more important than talking about what happens after life, and so I did switch back to it.  But he just didn’t want to talk about it.  So I respected that.  I left him with a link to needGod.net.

My next conversation was with a guy from Africa (I presume; he was an ex-Christian).  He was also resistant, but for some reason it worked out that I persisted with sharing the law and the gospel even though there was resistance.

Sometimes you do, and sometimes you don’t - and it’s hard to say why.  We must respect people, yet they need the gospel!

But the stand out conversation of the day was with a Hindu lad from Florida, USA.  He was open to the conversation and seemed resigned to the fact that he deserved hell.  But I shared the good news with him.  I said: “So, if Jesus has paid your hell fine, where does that mean you go when you die?”  and he responded with, “heaven”.  So I said, “So what’s the reason why you go to heaven?”  And he said, “if I’m a good person”.  Wow - I knew I was going to have to labour with him on this, and I did, and he finally came to grasp the gospel: the gift of Jesus.  Yet he also came to understand the cost of following Jesus, and he admitted that his culture would make it hard for him.  I was very encouraged by this conversation; I leave him in God’s hands.

I finished the outreach with a great conversation with two Catholic lads.  The conversation started with them accusing me of being a pedo, and so I asked them, “What do you think happens after life?”  And then they quickly apologised for calling me a pedo!  We had a great tussle of a conversation where I worked through their objections and explained to them the truth of the good news of Jesus.

With the rain Sunday afternoon, I joined the practical online training outreach run by the Operation 513 Aussie team.  With this outreach we pair up and take turns sharing the gospel online, but we pause after each conversation to do a retrospective.  I was paired up with Trinity - and she gives marvellous feedback!  It’s so good to be challenged in this way.  It was also wonderful to be able to just listen to how someone else shares the gospel and deals with the different objections that come up.  A very worthwhile exercise!  And for anyone new to sharing the gospel in this way, it’s a great way to observe and learn.  I really encourage you to give it a try - whether you are experienced or not!

Trinity had a conversation with a young man who seemed a bit disconnected, and yet continued to respond to the questions asked.  He admitted that there wouldn’t be anything stopping him from trusting that Jesus died on the cross for him!

Before that, I had a conversation with a girl who said you have to keep the 10 commandments to go to heaven.  So I tested her on a few of them and she realised the dilemma.  Her defence was to ask me what day I go to church!  I sidestepped that, and proceeded to show her the way to heaven.  She seemed very appreciative of the conversation.
 

---

Thursday and Friday saw a lot of rain in Christchurch.  This led to more online evangelism than usual - but we still headed out as well!

On Thursday I started with online outreach before heading to the Northlands bus stops and then being forced back online due to the weather.

With the first stint online the highlights were:

• A conversation with a guy who turned out to be on drugs.  He was giving me answers that led me to think he wouldn’t appreciate the gospel, but I kept labouring with this guy and to my surprise he opened up (that’s when he admitted to being on drugs).  There was loneliness in this guy, two of his friends died last year.  He did hear the gospel and at the end of the conversation he thanked me, and he said something interesting: “because of this conversation, something changed in my head”.
• A girl who was atheist.  I gave her the logic of how we know God exists.  She responded with: “ok, I believe in God now - well done”.  Then, sadly, she disconnected.  If we just get people to believe God exists (something they already know), but don’t get to share the good news - well, that’s sad.
• A guy with an interesting mask on and who used filthy language.  He believed in Norse mythology.  He heard the law, and for my third question, instead of asking if he had been angry, I asked if he ever used bad language.  He smiled - I got him!  Sadly, this guy didn’t want the good news.  He freely admitted that he wanted to live his life his own way - in spite of his knowledge of the true God.  He received a link to needGod.net.
• I then had a conversation with a girl wearing some kind of beauty mask!  You get all sorts online.  I patiently took her through the law and the gospel.
• A conversation with two girls, who heard the logic of why there must be a hell (a place of perfect justice).  One of the girls agreed with the logic, thought about it for a second and then said, “but I’m an atheist” and disconnected.  I just shook my head - suppression of the obvious is so tragically sad.
• A conversation with a kid who understood (I could tell by his good facial expressions) and was open.  After hearing the gospel, he admitted that he went to church last Sunday, but only because a friend wanted him to.  He now seemed to have a much better understanding of why someone would want to go to church: the gospel.

It was raining when I made it to Northlands.  I was confident I would be able to use the bus shelters to stay dry and have conversations.  But the rain was falling in such a way that it came in under the shelter.  And there weren’t many people around.  In fact, when I turned up, there was only one!  So I approached this guy, and to my surprise he was very keen to chat!  We discussed apologetics, with an emphasis on why God is the only answer to the universe existing - this led to a discussion about evolution.  Unfortunately his bus came, but he had really enjoyed the chat.  He received a tract and invited him to get in touch.

I ended up having two more conversations before Andy and I decided to head back online.

Two interesting conversations from my second stint online:

• I had a long conversation with two guys from the USA who had already been indoctrinated with Christianess they didn’t seem to understand.  I had to wrestle / labour with them to get them to understand faith and repentance.  They became quite engaged, which was encouraging.
• I had a conversation with a guy who turned out to be a rapper and a Christian who believed following the 10 commandments would get him to heaven.  He seemed genuinely impacted when I explained the law and gospel and that we are saved through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus - not our good deeds.  I also told him to check out the rapper Shai Linne.

With the rain on Friday morning, we did online evangelism instead of the gospel + abortion outreach.  But I still felt like I was outside the hospital because my first conversation was one of the hardest I’ve had in a long while.  She was a deeply hurting lesbian with an intense hatred for God.  It was more difficult because she didn’t want to hear logic - and yet she fiercely argued with me and wouldn’t give up.  I did manage to switch from intellect to conscience by taking her through the law - she didn’t argue with that.  And I was able to talk about the gospel a few times.  But in the end, I had to finish up the conversation, she was so angry - and the argumentation wasn’t helping.  I felt grieved and helpless afterwards - desperately wanting to help her.  But God knows - I leave her in His hands.

My mornings online outreach finished with a wonderful conversation with an ex Muslim - now atheist in London.  She was fascinated that I was on Omegle to share the gospel.  In fact, she had received Christian literature only two weeks prior on the streets - she showed it to me, it included a copy of the gospel of John.  She was open to me sharing the law and the gospel with her, and she really appreciated the clear explanation.

The weather forecast was for improvement in the afternoon.  Sure enough the rain stopped, and Andy, Binu and I were able to head into the city for a few hours of outreach.

We started with open air preaching - and it went really well.  No hecklers (a nice change).  Andy went first.  There were quite a few people walking past who got to hear snippets.  And as I looked around the Square I noticed at least two people standing still and listening from a distance (it’s funny how you can tell).

I preached after Andy, and to my amazement, people actually came over to sit down and listen!  When I finished, I approached one guy, and Andy approached two girls to follow up.

The guy was a first year uni student studying engineering.  He started peppering me with apologetical questions.  I answered his questions, and then challenged him to respond to the gospel.

Andy then got into a wonderful conversation with a guy with a Muslim background, while I had a walk up conversation with three guys who had just received tracts from Binu.  It was a short conversation, as they were resistant.  One of them made a snide remark about standing outside the hospital with signs - he wanted to let me know he knew who I was.  This only encouraged me.  They heard the clear logic of how we all know God exists, why there must be hell, the law, the gospel, and why we stand outside the hospital with signs.  One of them could clearly see the reasoning, and the smile came off his face.  I hope they read the tracts that Binu gave them.

We moved to Cashel Mall and I got into a conversation with a guy who just wasn’t sound in the mind.  He started talking about how he had the power to kill people.  I told him if he keeps talking like that I’ll call the Police.  Gratefully he left me alone after that, but then about ten minutes later he assaulted a homeless guy!  Andy witnessed it, and called the Police.  Before the Police came, there were some intense follow up exchanges that was causing quite a scene.  I was very grateful when the Police arrived!  Andy had a great conversation with one of the other witnesses (pictured).

Once the guy had been arrested, things went back to normal, and we were able to continue our outreach.  It finished with a great conversation with a Tibetan Bhudist.

The rain returned in the evening, and so I finished the day with some more online evangelism.  It was actually a very frustrating string of conversations.  I had one conversation with a girl who said: “do you know how the Bible has ruined my life?”.  Afterwards I shook my head in frustration - it was the true God of the Bible that gave her life!

I finished with an urgent conversation with a young man who was going to leave, but I desperately wanted to hold him so he could understand the gospel.  When he “got it”, a light cast across his face - which was wonderful.  I tried to move into checking questions, but he disconnected.  But he did have a link to needGod.net.  I leave him, and all the people we talked to over these two days in God’s hands.

---

Page 1 . . . 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 . . . 47

---