Battle Log

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  2 major street outreaches this week: Boxing Day tract outreach, and then the usual Friday afternoon outreach in the city.

Boxing day is a great day to give out tracts, as there are HEAPS of people out shopping for bargains.  Sophie, 2 of Sophie’s younger siblings, and Martin joined me in Riccarton in the morning.  And then Mike and Martin were with me in the afternoon in the city.

Over both outreaches, we gave away well over 500 tracts, including the last of the Christmas tracts.

I wasn’t focusing on conversations, and yet, many conversations naturally occurred.  I encountered a guy who was in the same year as me at high school.  And I was able to have a brief conversation with a guy I worked with 20 years ago.  I had an Indian guy stop and talk about how people are missing the meaning of Christmas: Jesus.  We connected via Instagram.  There was an older guy who wasn’t interested in a tract, but he felt compelled to talk to me about how he couldn’t fathom how a universe so complicated could come from nothing (like this was a fresh revelation for him), I was able to touch on the law and the gospel with him, yet he was more interested in my testimony, which I shared.  He again refused a tract as we parted ways - he is in God’s hands.

The boxing day outreach is such a joy.  Even if many tracts went in the bin, many more are silently speaking (or waiting to speak).  This outreach will be a regular on the schedule from now on.

I was feeling tired for the Friday afternoon outreach in the city.  Roger, and later John joined me.

I focused on handing out tracts.  This led to one interesting conversation with 2 guys.  1 talked, the other only listened.  It was a short conversation, but a special one.  They guy had obviously been thinking on spiritual issues.  I was able to succinctly share the good news of the gospel.  They had to go.  Interestingly the silent guy was now also interested in a tract.

I decided to head over to Cathedral Square.  The usual flock of sheep (Christians) and goats (Hecklers) was there.  Steve the Atheist was there - but he doesn’t like me, so I went to talk with Nick.  Yet, Steve couldn’t help himself from giving me a piece of his mind.  Nasty stuff, I said nothing in return.  As I was talking to Nick, a kerfuffle occurred, I looked up to see Steve flip backwards in his wheelchair, he landed on his head!  It was an accident, but he was livid.  He spewed abuse at the perpetrator: “and you can’t come to my house any more”.  It was like listening to an upset kid in the playground.  So sad to see such bitterness.  Thankfully he was okay.  I still pray for him.  And I know other Christians are too.  Apart from the grace of God, that is me.

Roger and John had good chats (we discussed in debrief over drinks at the cafe).  Roger had 2 very special chats.  The first was a long chat with a doctor who works at the hospital - Roger is hopeful to be able to follow up on the chat.  But the 2nd was with two young ladies.  At the end of the chat, one of them told Roger this: “This morning, I was reading the gospel of John in the Bible, and I asked God if he would provide someone today to explain more about what she was reading”.  Roger was the answer to that prayer!  Wow, was that encouraging!  We head out each week, praying that God would use our feeble efforts.  God answers prayer!  We get to be involved in the wonderful work that God does!  Soli Deo Gloria!!
 

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I made it to 3 out of 4 street outreaches this week!  Although the 3rd one was a bit different from usual.

So, Roger was with me in Riccarton Tuesday afternoon, and in the city on Friday afternoon.  Then, on Saturday afternoon, I was invited by Toby, of Student Life to join his church in a door knock outreach with his church.

For the Tuesday afternoon outreach, I decided to ditch the flip chart and focus on handing out tracts (mostly Christmas ones).  I walked up and down the streets doing just that!  Roger stuck to his usual routine and had some marvellous chats.  Pictured is one he had with two young guys from a local Catholic High School.  Roger was rejoicing at their openness.  God is good.

Again, on Friday, I focused on giving out Christmas tracts.  But I was also able to have many interesting conversations.  I gave away 100 tracts through the 2 hour outreach.

Now, the door knock outreach.  I was very encouraged by how this worked out.  I was encouraged by the emotion of the local pastor encouraging the team, of mainly youth, in what they were about to do.  I was encouraged by Toby’s organisation of the outreach.  I was encouraged by the local churches willingness to reach out to their neighbours, in spite of nerves.

We paired up and prayed up, and then hit the streets.  We were each allotted houses to knock at.  At the door, we introduced ourselves, handed out a little Christmas gift pack, on behalf of the church, and then asked if we could do a short survey.  The main goal wasn’t an instant gospel conversation, but to open the door for future gospel conversations.  They were invited to a Christmas Carol service in the evening, and the opportunity to join a Christianity Explored program run by the church.

My partner and I covered about 25 houses.  It was fascinating getting a feel for those in the local community.  Some were a bit lonely, mourning the fact that people in the neighbourhood didn’t know each other.  Some were busy (on the phone).  Some were simply not interested.  Yet, many were willing to chat, and do the survey.

I was encouraged.  And I hope the others involved were too!  I wasn’t able to stay for the debrief.  The more we do this, the easier it gets for the next time.  May the evangelistic heart of the local church rise up and reach out with the good news of Christ!

The rest of my week has been spent in online ministry.  I had a number of great face to face chats on the needGod.net live stream - esp. on Thursday.  And I’m still ploughing through the never ending harvest field of TikTok direct messages.

Thank you for your prayers.  Merry Christmas!
 

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It’s going to be another shorter report for this week.  I was fully intending to do a full week on the streets (4 outreaches), but I only ended up doing 1!  Tuesday’s outreach was cancelled due to rain.  And then on Saturday and Sunday I just didn’t have the energy.  I’m recovering from a cough.

And so, Friday afternoon’s outreach to the city was the only outreach for the week.  A good one!  We had a team of 4: Andy, Roger, Greg and myself.  Roger had his ‘patch’, which is his flip chart on the corner.  Andy did walk up (he basically spent the whole outreach talking to the guy pictured).

There were lots of people out and about.  I think a cruise ship was in port.  Greg and I paired up.  We had 2 great chats.

The first was with a lady who I didn’t think would stop, but to my surprise she did.  I sensed that I wouldn’t be able to follow my usual script, and so I ended up going a little softer than usual.  I started out by asking her what was important about Christmas for her, and I let a conversation develop from there, swinging it as I could.  Her husband joined the conversation, and I thought that would end it, but it didn’t, he even became involved.  To my joy I was able to backtrack on to the ‘script’ and take them through the law, and then touch on the true wonder of Christmas, that God would incarnate (I didn’t use that word) to save wretched souls like us.

It turns out they were from Brisbane, and so I was able to talk about the Schoolies outreach I had been involved with recently.  We parted on good terms, and they left with tracts.  Great chat!

The next chat was with a young man going past.  I used the same tactic of starting with Christmas (we were standing right beside a Christmas tree).  I could sense I wasn’t going to be able to have a long chat with this guy, he was eating a pie – he looked like he was on a break from work.  He thought there would be nothing after we die, and so going from there, I was able to present the logic of an afterlife, the law, and then the gospel.  Another great chat.

Greg decided to go to the Square to see what evangelism was happening there, and so I spent the rest of the outreach on my own.  One significant chat was with a young couple.  She was very resistant.  She said her parents were Scientists and Atheists, and she was an Atheist too.  I gently reasoned with her, but she dug her heels in.  For someone scientific and logical, she became very emotional in her arguments.  I didn’t push and in the end I decided to move on as she wasn’t open at this stage.  Her boyfriend had been pretty quiet through the chat, and he had received a tract at the start, and had been reading it.  We parted ways with a handshake.

The rest of my week has been spent in online evangelism.  It feels really good catching up on TikTok DM conversations from over a month ago.  Looking forward to eventually being able to start on the growing pile of new requests.

I’ve also been enjoying training a young man to join the online team.  He is smart, and passionate, and it’s so refreshing seeing him face his fears to proclaim Christ!

God is so good in allowing us to have so many opportunities to represent him!  Please continue to pray for the team in NZ, Australia, and Worldwide.
 

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Okay, this is a place gap report between the Schoolies outreach and my first full week back in NZ.  My family joined me in Aussie after Schoolies and we had a holiday.  I got back Wednesday morning, and I’ve done 1 street outreach since then: Friday in the city.  But, before I left Aussie, I joined Ryan, Paul, and the team for the Sunday evening outreach in King George Square (pictured).

My whole family took part in the outreach.  And I paired up with my beautiful wife: Ruth.  We had a number of false starts (although no chat is in vain!) before getting into a good chat with a young man from the Philippines.  This young man didn’t seem to have any concept of sin, he talked about sin like it was normal, and then wondered why things were going wrong in his life.  So, through the chat, I had to labour on the law to try to resuscitate his conscience.  By the end of the chat, I think he was understanding the gospel.  And he seemed to really appreciate it.  So much so that he was willing to take a copy of the gospel of John and start reading it.  He also left with a tract.

It was so good to be with the Aussie team!  But, it was very good to be home again.  I got straight back to work on Wednesday, and my focus for the week was trying to catch up on TikTok direct messages.  There are way too many messages for me to be able to get to them all.  At this stage I’m ignoring new requests.  Instead, what I’m trying to do is focus on completing on going gospel chats.  Some of which have had no response, probably since the Philippines trip or even before.

But I’ve also been having Ome and Monkey chats online.  1 very special one was with a young man in the Solomon Islands, it was even on live stream.  He had a click moment during the chat, and said “my mind is blown” as he grasped the gospel.  This was part way through the check questions.

It was great to be back on the streets with the usual crew on Friday at the Bridge of Remembrance.  Andy, Roger, Greg, and John were all with me.

I was paired up with Greg initially.  We had a chat with 2 young ladies.  They went to a Christian school, but articulated works for salvation.  I went through the law and the gospel with them.  It wasn’t a long chat.  But about 15 minutes later they came back and wanted to ask about “LGBT”.  And so we discussed that with them.

We had a number of other chats before wrapping up the outreach.  Roger and I had a good catch up over coffee / hot choc afterwards.

Christmas is in the air, and I'm looking forward to distributing Christmas tracts over the next few weeks!  Thank you so much for keeping the Christchurch Operation 513 team in prayer.
 

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This week we were at the Canterbury A&P Show.  This would have to be one of the longest special outreaches of our year: it’s only 3 days (wed, thu, fri), but we had to have our site running for the whole day: 8am till 5:30pm - and even 7:30pm on Thursday.

And it gets really busy.  We had up to 6 ‘good person test’ flipcharts actively being used at peak times.  On Friday, a public holiday, we had about 12 Christians on site making it all happen.  Hundreds of people will have been reached with the gospel of Jesus.  Glory to God alone!

It’s a bit of a blurr for me.  But I’ll do my best to dredge through the memories of the last 3 days and report on how it went.

I got an early knock back on Wednesday morning, a middle aged man and his elderly parents looked interested in giving it a go, and so I approached, and with a smile said, “we are Christians, just sharing the good news of Jesus”.  The man said 2 words - I can’t remember what they were, but they were nasty, expressing a real hatred for God.  It felt like a sharp punch to the guts.  I was shocked.  I said something like, “I’d be happy to talk about that”.  But his parents were moving him along.  He had one more crack before he turned to go.

I had other similar, but more subtle push backs during the morning.  A real fear of man crept into my soul.  It drove me to prayer, in light of my very real weakness.  With God’s help, I kept trooping on.

With people here to enjoy the show, they had time to slow down and find out what we were about.  But, with the demographic we were dealing with, attention spans were shorter.  People wanted to move on and enjoy other things.  I found myself having a lot more conversations that were shorter.  Kinda like skimming a stone across the surface of depth of the gospel.  Yet, it’s a simple message, and so much ploughing and sowing occurred.

I really enjoyed the opportunities to go deeper, though, and really labour with people, who wanted to engage, in regards to the reality of God’s justice and amazing mercy.

For the late night on Thursday, Greg was with me.  It wasn’t as busy as the show organisers were maybe hoping it would be.  Sadly, most of the other sites around us shut down.  Yet, there were enough people going past to keep Greg and I busy.  Often when there are less people around, people feel safer to approach us for a deep chat.  Sometimes that’s with openness.  But, on this evening we had a few difficult chats.

We had a Jewish lady stop to engage.  She spent separate time with both Greg and I.  Then 2 ladies and a guy approached.  1 was very open, but the other 2 were very closed.  The issue was not intellectual, but emotional: why does God allow evil and suffering.  Finally, Greg had 2 young teenage boys having a go at him.  He ended up passing them to me, and we spared for about 10 minutes - rapid fire.  Eventually I paused and said, “hey guys, my name is Glen, and I’m a person, and it really hurts the way you are attacking me”.  One of the kids gave up at that point, he stormed off in a huff.  But the other kid apologised.  We shook hands, and he left with a couple of tracts.

The weather forecast wasn’t looking good for Friday, but it ended up holding off right to the end of the day, which was great!  Our site was skinnier than usual this year, and so I was concerned about how we would handle the traffic without encroaching on the sites next door.  Yet, glory to God, it worked out beyond my expectations!  We managed to get 6 charts running and busy.

The highlight chats for me were at the very end of the day.  One in particular was with 3 guys claiming to be Eastern Orthodox, but with a tinge of white supremacy coming through.  What it boiled down to was a battle over salvation by works vs by faith alone.  The ring leader was misunderstanding repentance.  And so I was able to biblically correct that, and then later in the chat I called him to repentance.  Andy ended up continuing the chat with him, while I continued with the other 2 guys – I could tell they were very challenged.  It was a great chat.

By the end, most of the other sites had shut down, with the weather looming and the numbers of patrons all but dry.  But our site was still cranking! (see the pic)  I was overjoyed and just praising God for answering our prayers.

Thank you to all the Christians that came to help run the site.  I hope you were encouraged in your evangelism.  And thank you to all those praying!  God loves to answer our prayers!

Well, I didn’t plan it this way, but I’m about to fly over to the Gold Coast to join the Schoolies outreach for a week.  So please keep us in prayer for that too!

All glory to God alone!
 

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The writer of these posts took a week off after the trip to Wellington (with Craig and Calvary Wellington Church).

And this week was a ‘normal’ week of street outreach: Tuesday afternoon in Riccarton with Roger; Friday afternoon in the city with Andy, Greg, and Roger; Saturday morning in Riccarton, and then Sunday afternoon in the city with Susan.

So, this report will cover this week of street outreach, but before I get into it, if you are reading this, can I just ask you to pray for the next 2 weeks of special outreaches.  Next week we’ll be at the Canterbury A&P Show (Wed 15th Nov, till Friday 17th of Nov).  We have hired a site at the show where we will be sharing the gospel with hundreds of people via the ‘good person test’ flip chart.  The hours will be from 8am till 5:30pm.  And on Thursday we go till 7:30pm.  So big days of gospel outreach.  We have a team of 6 for Wednesday, 8 for Thursday, and 12 for Friday, which is a public holiday and very busy!

Please pray for stamina, favour with authority, that Christians would be encouraged in sharing the gospel, and that many lost would hear the gospel.  And that ultimately God would be glorified through our obedience to proclaim and through people coming to understand his justice and his mercy.

Secondly, on Saturday the 18th, I’m flying to the Gold Coast to join the team for the Schoolies outreach.  This outreach is basically an ‘ambulance at the bottom of the cliff’.  Schoolies is billed as “the best week of your life”, which sadly means a week of drunkenness and sexual immorality for kids that have just finished high school.  After the first night, we have many long chats with some of these kids who are processing what life is all about.  We get to share the hope of the gospel.  So, for the week, starting on the 18th, that’s what we will be doing everyday.  The prayer request is the same as for the Canterbury A&P Show ^.  Thanks!

Okay, now to the report for this week!

So, Tuesday in Riccarton.  The highlight was a really encouraging chat with a young man going past.  He started the chat saying he wasn’t very sure about what happens after life.  But near the end of the chat he said, “you’ve changed my mind”!  At the very least he was grasping the gospel.  I pointed him to ‘John’ in the Bible, and also a local church.  Roger also had some encouraging chats.

On Friday I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and lacking in energy.  In those moments, I default to finding a spot and handing out tracts with a smile.  And yet, I was quickly into a chat.  Sadly, the guy was subtly resistant.  I think he was hearing and understanding the simple concepts I was explaining, but he didn’t like the implications, and so would interrupt and change the subject.  There wasn’t much point in forcing it, so we soon parted ways with a handshake.

By this stage, Andy had arrived, and soon after Roger.  I was in a chat with a regular, when Greg came past to join as well.  Andy and Greg teamed up.  Roger had his flip, and with the way I was feeling, I decided to go for a wander.

I ended up going to spots I don’t normally go to, and I ended up having a great chat with a young man from the UK, down by the Avon River.  He initially rejected a tract, but I was able to ask him what he thinks happens after life.  He was intrigued, and we were into it.  His background was Catholic, and he defaulted to good deeds for heaven.  The law and gospel were shared.

Later, I was back near Roger (who seemed to have the fish jumping into his boat).  He had a guy approach him, and fell into a chat that seemed to be going well.  I noticed a friend cut into the conversation, and so I went over to handle him, so Roger wouldn’t lose his chat.  It worked out, and I ended up having a good chat with the guy.  From Ireland, he was in NZ on a working holiday, ‘making the most of life, because there is nothing after’.  Well, he came to hear the good news - but it certainly wasn’t good news to him.  For him, making the most of life seemed to involve sin, something he was not willing to let go of.

A shorter than usual  outreach in Riccarton on Saturday, I had one of my regulars stop for a chat early on.  I was able to reiterate the law and the gospel non-directly (i.e., using the flow of the conversation to insert it appropriately).  He was resistant, but we parted on good terms.

Later I had a quick law and gospel chat with 3 (or 4?) guys.  In response to my question: ‘what happens after life?’, they gave 3 different responses: 1) reincarnation, 2) nothing, 3) heaven and hell.  Those are the standard responses!  They were all in different places, but they all heard the law and the gospel.  1 in particular seemed focused on what I was saying.  Yet, who knows what the result will be?  Keep faithfully scattering the seed!

Sunday was warm.  In the city, and I really became aware of the angst around the whole Israel / Hamas war.  There are competing posters and stickers plastered everywhere!  The only solution is the gospel.

To my amazement, as I was walking down the mall, I passed a guy with his phone sitting next to him, and he had a pro Palestine sticker.  I stopped to engage him, and he was very happy to talk about it.  Using Israel / Hamas as a starting point, I wanted to know what his ultimate goal was, he eventually said, “a single state, where everyone gets along”.  How are we going to achieve that?  It led to a discussion on how we know God is real, justice, hell, and how do we get mercy?  I was able to touch on the gospel, but in his resistance he wasn’t really ready for it.  Yet, as I gently and calmly persisted, he was willing to admit that there was logic to what I was saying.  He had to go to work, and, to my surprise, accepted a tract, as I wanted him to contact me so I could address the important questions he was raising.  He said he might do that!

By this stage, Susan was with me.  We continued down the mall seeking walk up chats, when we bumped into a group that supports Israel!  Susan and I were able to get into a chat with one of them.  Interestingly, her points were similar to my previous chat: hatred at injustice.  The only solution is Messiah!  People who understand his justice AND mercy are changed.  And hate is turned to love.  I was able to touch on the law, and then the gospel, but she then shut the conversation down - yet she also took a tract.

Other chats were had, but I’m out of time.  (Nic, I saw Max again, just as the outreach was ending!  God is on his case!)

So, please keep us in prayer for next week, at the Canterbury A&P Show ^.  All glory to God alone!
 

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This report will cover the last 3 days of the outreach to the Wellington region, with Craig Godfrey and the team at Calvary Wellington Church.

On Wednesday we spent the morning in Porirua City and then the afternoon in Lower Hutt.  On Thursday, we spent the whole day in Lower Hutt.  And then finally on Friday, we were in Central Wellington: in the morning we were around the Cuba Street Mall, and then in the afternoon we were down on the waterfront and then finished the outreach on Lambton Quay.

What a blast!  It’s so good to do street outreach in new locations - new fishing holes, with new and interesting fish to talk with!

It wasn’t too busy in Porirua on Wednesday morning, but there were still plenty of people to talk to.  My first chat of the day was special, it was with a young man who looked pretty down and out.  He knew about Christian things, but I don’t think he had really considered the implications, I could tell, because as we slowed down and really processed the bad news, and the good news of Jesus, you could see his joy as he came to truly understand.

As the morning progressed, we had Lou Johns, Parking & Bylaws Officer for the Porirua City Council come and tell us that we were not allowed to approach people for conversations in their city!  I was shocked!  It’s been a long while since my false fears of authority had been tested.  I decided to play it as a ‘good cop’ - not being intimidated, but at the same time standing for our legal right to talk to people!  The conversation ended well, and I’m in email contact with her.  If I had the time, I’d like to challenge the Council further on their restrictions.

Anyway, we moved down to the train station, and in accordance with Lou’s instructions I didn’t approach anyone for conversations.  Instead, I stood on the wide part of the foot path (as instructed) and with a smile handed out tracts.  When you have a friendly smile, it encourages smiles in return.  It worked really well!  Some people would smile back, and then approach me to take a tract.  In this way, I was able to start conversations.  I had 2 really good conversations (although short ones) this way.

As Craig and I were scoping out the area for future outreaches, we also went to the skate park.  There I had a conversation with 4 young guys who looked quite intimidating!  Yet, when they could see we were friendly, the conversation went well.  The law and the gospel was heard, and tracts received.

After lunch, we headed back over the hills to Lower Hutt.  We found a great place for outreach at the corner of Queens Drive, Margaret & Bunny Streets.  As people would cross the street, many tracts were handed out and conversations were started.  June had joined us by this stage, and by 3 o’clock, things were really busy as school kids started going past.  We were supposed to finish at 4 pm, but it was so busy that we ended up continuing till 4:30pm.  We couldn’t just walk away from a fishing hole teaming with fish!  We even had one situation where someone who had heard their friends talking about the gospel, she came down to talk to us to find out for herself!

So, the next day, and in anticipation of some bad weather, we headed back to this same spot for the day.  I had some really special conversations in the morning esp.  One young lady stayed for a while and came to grasp the good news of Jesus.  I had an older lady stop: she had a Christian background, even went to a church every week, but she thought she had to ‘try’ to get to heaven.  By the end of the conversation she was understanding the difference between ‘trying’ and ‘trusting’, and the appropriate place of each in regards to justification and sanctification.  I could tell she was deeply impacted.  She said, “you are a good man”, and I responded with, “no, I’m a bad man, saved by Jesus who is good” - just as I said that, a man rushing past turned and looked at me.  Later, after I had finished talking to the lady, he rushed past again, going the other direction - I offered him a tract, but he refused.  But, a minute later, he came back.  He said he would take one.  He said he had a Christian background, but his faith wasn’t right: “maybe this is a sign from God”.  He couldn’t stay and talk, but I just love how God has people at the right place at the right time!  God is reaching the lost!

I was excited to finally get to Wellington Central on the last day of the week of outreach.  The weather was good!  Mara and Daniel joined Craig and I.  I was shocked at some graffiti, right across from a busy bus stop, that said, “Life Sucks Give Up”.  Oh, how people need the hope of Jesus!  My first major chat was special, with a young lady who claimed to be Christian, but gave human philosophy in regards to ‘self’ as her answer to why we go to heaven.  She heard the simple message of Jesus.  After that, many of the chats I had met people who were quite resistant.  But it was wonderful to labour the truth of Jesus with them.

It was great to pump out tracts to people on the waterfront and on Lambton Quay in the afternoon.  Many chats were also had, including a follow up!  We get around!

During the day, I also had multiple chats with people from Christchurch!

I was feeling quite exhausted while waiting for my return flight on Friday evening.  Yet, very grateful.  Grateful for the opportunity to come up to Wellington.  A shout out to Craig, who gave up a week of work to organise this week and to labour so tirelessly beside me for the whole week.  Also special thanks to Craig and Jan for hosting me for the week.  Your hospitality couldn’t have been better!  Thanks to Jarryd Alcorn and the crew at Calvary Wellington for allowing me to minister the gospel in connection with your church.  I hope you were encouraged and equipped in some way for the irksome task of evangelism!  The great commission.  Thank you to all those that were praying for us during this week.  All glory to God alone!
 

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Having a fantastic time in Wellington with Craig Godfrey and the team from Calvary Wellington Church.  I flew up on Saturday, and I had the opportunity to speak to Calvary Wellington on Sunday morning on the “Wisdom of Winning Souls” (Exodus 4:12-15).

 

On Monday (Labour Day, a public holiday) I ran my “Tell Me” training sessions in the morning to a group of 26, made up mostly of people from Calvary Wellington.  That’s the largest group I’ve had do the training, so that was really encouraging.

 

In the afternoon we went down to Petone Beach for the optional street outreach part of the training.  There were about 12 of us.  One of the things I struggle with in regards to this training outreach is balancing newbies with those that have more experience.  You just have to trust God with it!  I was praying for opportunities for me to get into a gospel conversation while a group from the training could listen in and see what they had been learning put into practice.  Well, while we were gathering, an elderly couple came past, and sat on the wall right next to us.  Here was my opportunity!  I gently sparked up a conversation, and when the opportunity was right (but not waiting too long), I swung the conversation to spiritual things.  It turned into a wonderful opportunity for those in the team that were already there to listen in!  The elderly lady had had a Christian background, but had rejected it when she was young.  Interestingly, it was apparent that she had never really understood what Christianity, and she was challenged to reconsider.  The both gladly accepted gospel tracts as they moved on.

 

Just after I finished that conversation, a guy on a bike went past, and Craig was able to get into a great gospel conversation for the team to listen to.  2 in a row!  Thank you Lord.

 

After this, we did our best to split the group up into pairs and step out in faith in starting gospel chats!  I was trying my best to rotate pairs around.  Many were keen just to observe at this stage, and that was fine!

 

For the rest of the outreach I had many gospel opportunities, the first went really well!  It was with 3 girls (and I had 2 others from our team with me).  It was a fairly text box chat, demonstrating what I had been teaching in the morning.  After that, the chats varied.  Some were with people that are open, some with people who were resistant.  And some were even awkward, as I made an effort to make gospel engagement for those I was paired with.  Yet, no chat is in vain, and many gospel tracts were also distributed.

 

At the end of the outreach, we debriefed and prayed.  What a great day!

 

On Tuesday (today), Craig and I headed up to the Upper Hutt Main Street for a day of outreach.  Jarryd, one of the pastors of Calvary Wellington, joined us for a couple of hours in the morning.  And Karen joined us briefly too.

 

The streets weren’t packed, but there were enough people to keep our small team busy for the day.  I had many wonderful conversations: some resistant, some open, and everything in between, here are just a few of the highlights:

 

Two guys heading to the gym.  I chatted with Nate, an unbeliever, while Jarryd chatted with John, a professing believer.  Nate followed along with the presentation and became mildly resistant, but he kept asking questions which I was able to address.  He heard the law and the gospel.  A good chat.

 

A Bhuddist, who denied God was real and articulated reincarnation in a way that was faithful to what Buddhism actually teaches.  So I knew he wasn’t nominal in his faith.  So I asked him, “who makes the rules for right and wrong?”  It stumped him.  I laboured with the building / builder analogy for about 10 minutes, when he suddenly conceded: “Yeah, it makes sense”.  He then opened up to hear the law and the gospel, and walked off reading a tract.

 

An Atheist!  I spent about 15 minutes labouring with the cosmological argument and other logic.  Although he was friendly, he was really resistant.  I knew I wasn’t going to make any progress, so I shut down that chat, and we moved on with a handshake - he refused a tract.  That was just before lunch.  Amazingly, as Craig and I were having lunch in Subway, he came in and sat just across from me - we acknowledged each other.  And then later in the afternoon, he was coming up the street again and we got into another chat.  This time it was different.  He wanted to talk about work (we both have backgrounds in IT) and I went with that for a while.  He was different, he seemed open.  And so I was able to swing the conversation back to spiritual things, and, glory to God, I was able to take him through the law and the gospel (although it was brief).  This time, as we parted ways, he took a tract!  I was encouraged.

 

I had a difficult chat with two young ladies.  They were nice, but very resistant.  One of them in particular was very angry that God would allow innocent children to suffer.  I knew if I pushed, then it would go “nuclear”.  They made statements that were direct contradictions and couldn’t see it, so blinded by their emotion.  I think I started that chat with tracts, and so at least they left with those.

 

I could write more, but I’m out of time.  I praise God, and thank him for his help in the first half of this week in Wellington.  All glory to him!  Please keep us in prayer as we continue this week of outreach.

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A shorter week of outreach this week, because today I’m heading to Wellington for a week of outreach with Craig and the team at Calvary Wellington.

To conserve my energy, I cancelled the outreaches in Riccarton (Tuesday and Saturday), so the only scheduled outreach was Friday - in the city.  But, we heard a special announcement, the Living Waters team would be filming for the Way of the Master TV Show in Christchurch on Wednesday and Thursday - and so I had to check that out!

Sure enough, on Wednesday & Thursday evening, they were at the Bridge of Remembrance.  There were quite a number of Christians who had turned up to say hello and see them in action.  They focused on open air preaching, and used various techniques, including: trivia & giving away money, comedy & communication skills, flip charts and sketch boarding.  Those who spoke included: EZ, Mark Spence, Oscar, Ben Price, Eddy Roman, and Chris Sandford from Living Waters Down Under.  They all did an excellent job!  Glory to God alone.

It was great to see people stopping and engaging as they all preached the same message: the gospel of Jesus!

On Thursday afternoon, they did some filming with a focus on how to hand out gospel tracts.  I somehow managed to be roped into this, and was even mic’d up for it!  It was fun.

Before the open air preaching, on Thursday evening before the Living Waters team arrived, I had some time and managed to get into some gospel chats for 30 minutes or so.  I had a long chat with 2 guys who were already very drunk - it was only barely past dinner time!  They were resistant, but I calmly spared with them, answering their objections and tenaciously sticking to the task of sharing the law and the gospel.  And I succeeded in that task!  If they will remember it is another thing - but that is in God’s hands anyway.  Later, I had a chat with a young couple.  I think I’ve talked to the guy once before.  They were also very resistant.  So I spared with them as well, and succeeded in explaining how we know who God is, that we have sinned against him, and the solution to the problem: Jesus.

While I was doing this, Brian and Laura had their flip chart up, and were sharing the gospel with a young couple (pictured).  It was so wonderful watching them work as a team!  They are from Nelson, and like us, go to A&P shows in their area to share the gospel.  (They had come down to see the Living Waters team in action.)  May God bless them in their ministry!

Brian, Andy, Roger & Dom joined me for Friday’s outreach.  The crowd was tough on this day too.  I talked to a man who quite quickly opened up about being gay, he wanted to justify his sin, and wasn’t really interested in engaging at this time.  And yet, he took a gospel tract.  I then talked to a young man from Canada.  He too had his head in the sand in regards to truth.  I then went to help Roger disengage from someone being obnoxious, and then ditto with Brian.  I then paired up with Andy with a conversation where the guy was resistant (pictured).  And finally Dom and I paired, the guy we approached said he always gets asked “why do you think happens after you die”!  I engaged him on how we know there is an afterlife with a place of punishment.  He didn’t like this idea very much, and soon after we parted ways.  Finally, I approached an older man, who took a tract, but was adamant there is no God and nothing after life.  I gently reasoned with him till he too had to move on.

None of those conversations are a waste, because people are learning more about God, even in their resistance, it’s ploughing and sowing.  Maybe one day in the future someone else will harvest?  But all the glory will be to God.
 

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A busy week this week.  Street outreaches to Riccarton on Tuesday afternoon, and into the city on Friday afternoon.  And then on Saturday we were at the Ellesmere A&P Show.  Also busy with outreach online - that was so good.

Starting with Tuesday, honestly, it was a bit of a slow outreach (cold and dreary day - may have had something to do with it).  The reality is, not every outreach is going to be filled with stella gospel chats.  But we plod on anyway!  I was able to have some chats with people.  One in particular stands out in my mind, a young man who has been involved in a youth group and so was familiar with some of the lingo.  He came to grasp grace, and even made a profession of faith.  On the other side of the street, Roger was having an interesting chat with a young Muslim lad (pictured).  It was a fairly intense conversation at times!  We ended up wrapping up the outreach early and having a cuppa.

Friday’s outreach was really interesting.  Mark joined Roger and I.  I paired up with Mark for the first 30 minutes or so - before he had to leave.

I then needed to fill up my drink bottle when I noticed a couple of young ladies protesting against the CCP (as far as I could tell, against human rights violations). I went over to open dialog with the intention of swinging the conversation to the basis for human rights: the reality of God, and then what the ultimate solution to the problem must be: Jesus.

The conversation was rolling when all of a sudden a group of Chinese tourists went past.  They were disgusted at the protest, and they didn’t hold back in expressing their very intense anger at it.  I was shocked at their intensity!  But the protesters weren’t, one of them just pulled out her phone and started filming.

This fascinated me, and so I tried to engage the tourists, but they walked off.  Suddenly, another Chinese couple came up, their anger was just as intense!  This time I succeeded in engagement, I was able to pull this couple aside and start a conversation to try to understand the emotion.  It took some time, but I was able to get them to calm down a bit, while I was listening to their reasoning.  I was successful in eventually swinging the conversation to root causes, “where does absolute right and wrong come from?”  When they realised where I was going, you could tell they didn’t like the implications.  They tried to switch the conversation away from root issues back to fruit issues, but I was able to swing it back again.  I was successful in showing how we know there is a universe maker that would be the basis for absolute truth, and then I was able to take them through the law.  In this situation, it had a powerfully humbling effect.  But, before I could share the gospel, they suddenly said, “we need to get to the Museum”.  I wasn’t surprised!  They had some things to think about!  I was pleased when they both accepted tracts.  And we parted ways with handshakes.  Great chat!  I love learning about people and what makes them tick!

I went back to the protesters, and I was able to finish up a warm conversation with them.  I was able to touch on the law and the gospel with them as well.

Those interactions ended up taking most of the rest of the outreach.

The Ellesmere A&P Show had nice sunny weather, but there was a very very strong wind.  The pictures don’t do it justice.  Other stalls had to pack up and leave, because it was just too windy to be practical for them.  We managed to set up, although we kept the gazebo in the low setting, and we had to tie down the flip chart stands, and hold the flip charts tightly!  We decided to proceed with the outreach, and it wasn’t long till Andy was into the first chat.  We ended up in outreach for a total of 4 hours, before we finally decided to pack it up (after getting emergency texts on our phones about the winds).

We ended up with a team of 6 running the site (pictured).  But if it hadn’t been so windy, we would have had a team of 10, which is decent for an outreach like this.  By mid week, I was concerned that there would only be 3 of us (Andy, Lily and myself), but with some desperate messages, and a facebook post, it was great to have the calvary arrive. Thanks so much team!

So, even though my hands got quite sore having to hold the flip chat pages in place against the wind, I ended up having some wonderful gospel conversations.

My first was with a young couple.  He was struggling to grasp grace, so I had to labour, but it was fascinating watching her face, as she became more and more interested in the good news I was sharing.  The gospel is so amazing when truly grasped.

The other chat that really stands out in my mind was a long one.  Four young people boldly approached me, and I suspected I’d be in for a fight - I wasn’t wrong.  I reasoned with them for a long time, and in the process answered their objections and shared the gospel.  I had to deal with the 2 most common questions: 1) evil and suffering, and 2) homosexuality.  I was able to be faithful in explaining that homosexuality is a sin, and yet demonstrate that I don’t hate or fear anyone, and that there was forgiveness for sin in Christ.  By the end of the chat, one of the guys was willing to open up that he was gay, and even in a relationship with one of the other guys in the conversation.  They refused to give up their Idolatry (making a god that says they can sin), but I could tell they were understanding the good news of Jesus.  We finally parted ways on good terms (although we disagree).  The gospel is the power for salvation!  I leave them in God’s hands.

One other chat comes to mind.  It was with a young man with really frizzy hair.  It was awesome seeing what the wind did to his hair!  But what was great about the chat was seeing him go from joking about the conversation, to slowly sobering up about the seriousness of the situation of sin and hell.  By the end of the chat he seemed genuinely impacted, and thanked me with a firm handshake.

God is good!

Because we left the A&P Show early due to the wind, I ended up joining the training outreach online.  I was paired up with Issac in Sydney who did a fantastic job!  I had 3 conversations. The 2nd was awesome, because the young man came to truly grasp the gospel (he was close but so far), he was genuinely stoked by it!  And the 3rd chat was amazing too, the young lady came to tears as she came to understand the grace of Christ.

Anyway, that’s a wrap for this week.  Keep up the good work of sharing Christ with others!  Be encouraged!
 

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