Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 40

WHAT A BUSY night in Brisbane! Praise be to God that 2,000 tracts were able to go into people’s hands and some good gospel conversations were had.

One stand-out conversation was with a Muslim guy named Ally who didn’t respond with the usual “I want to keep relying on my good deeds”, instead he came to agree that good deeds could never pay for his sins.

And as we shared the gospel with him he saw that Jesus dying for him is the only way he could get to heaven, and he said he is now going to seriously consider this, realizing the cost it could have on his life in leaving Islam. Please pray for him that God saves him.

To God be all the glory!

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Wow, what an AMAZING 2 weeks! Over these past 2 weeks, God has allowed the team to get out 31,000 gospel tracts into people’s hands in Brisbane city. Thank you for praying!

We were encouraged to see people reading the tracts and some even came back thanking us for what we were doing.

Ultimately, the results are in God’s hands, so we would appreciate it if you could be praying for those who received the gospel and that God would bring them to trust in Christ.

To God be all the glory!

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

I’m pretty tired, because I stayed up for the New Year last night.  So, I hope this report is going to make sense!

The routine breaking holiday schedule is now complete (and I’m looking forward to getting back to my routine, starting with a day off tomorrow)!

Four street outreaches since my last report.  Martin joined me on Friday in the City.  I was in Riccarton on Saturday lunchtime, and then ministering at the New Years Eve event in the City.  And then finally today’s outreach in the City.

Starting with Friday.  It was overcast, but there were plenty of people around and about.  It turns out people from a cruise ship were in town.  But sadly, for some reason, it felt like a bit of a slow outreach.  Although Marin and I both had good gospel opportunities.  I guess I’m comparing it to the high of boxing day?

Anyway, I found out about the cruise ship through an older gentleman who approached my flip chart wondering what I was doing.  His wife was in the shop across from me, and so he had been observing me for a few minutes.  I was upfront, as always, but we ended up chit chatting about light hearted things for a bit.  He eventually swung the conversation to the deeper things of life!  It turns out he is an Atheist.  He grew up in a Methodist church, and his reasoning for being Atheist was that he was cold in church as a boy, and he prayed that God would warm him up.  When he didn’t warm up, he concluded God wasn’t real, and informed his parents as much.  I have to assume that there was something more to it, because that doesn’t make sense.  I tried to reason with him (starting with the building / builder analogy), but then his wife arrived and he had to go.  We parted on very good terms, and he walked off with a “Who Made It?” tract.

I left Martin with the flip chart, and went for a wander.  But had no luck in striking up a conversation.  As I was coming back to Martin, I noticed he was in a conversation with 3 guys, which was great.  So I went the other direction, when someone said my name.

It was one of the girls I had talked to on Boxing day, and I’ve talked to her before that in Riccarton.  She is resistant, but I can tell there is an openness, because she keeps coming to talk to me, and although she disagrees, I can tell she is processing what I say.  She introduced me to her sister, and we fell into gospel conversation.  As we were going through the law, they brought up a situation.  They were planning to lie to their parents and have a new years eve party at their place where they intended to get drunk while their parents were away.  Anyway, I was able to share the gospel before they had to go.

Well, later in the outreach, they came back, and this time they had another friend with them, so, yet another gospel conversation started.  Interestingly, the two sisters had informed me of their new plan.  They were going to ask their parents if they could have the party (this would solve the lying and disobedience)!  Interesting, so I posed 2 questions: 1) if their parents said no, would they still have the party?  Answer: yes.  2) are you still intending on getting drunk?  Answer: yes.  They were fooling themselves!  Yet, I’m at least encouraged that they seem to be feeling a partly conviction about their sin.  Again, I went back to the real solution: Jesus.  They moved on.  But, if God’s patience holds, I’ve got a feeling I will see them again.  Please pray that this would be so.

The Riccarton outreach on Saturday (New Years Eve) was also quiet.  Not many people around.  But there were enough people around to keep me busy.  I remember a good chat with a young man who said he used to be an Atheist, but he admitted to softening.  He was now articulating a very eastern religious way of thinking.  I was able to labour on how we know God is real, and why hell is logical.  I can’t remember if I share the law and the gospel - I know he had to get going to catch a bus, but he did leave with a “Who Made It?” tract.  I’m racking my brain, and I just can’t remember the other chats of the outreach - oh, that’s right, I talked to 2 girls from Latin America.  I can’t remember the others, if there were any!

In the afternoon, I had a couple of very encouraging conversations online, before having dinner and heading to the New Years Eve concert in the central city (Hagley Park) with my daughters.  There were other families from my church there, so it was good to spend some time with them.

But, my purpose for being there was to share the gospel.  I had already done 6 hours of outreach for the day, and so I guess I was feeling tired.  Plus, the environment was unfamiliar to me, plus I was on my own.  So, I was feeling very nervous.  I didn’t have any boldness.  It was a good reminder of how Christians often feel when facing evangelism!  I know what it’s like!  I ended up going for a walk, praying for help, smiling and greeting people, but feeling too nervous to really engage.  I ended up in the city, before heading back to the park, still praying.  I wondered if I would just wimp out and give up, when I noticed a guy.  The situation seemed right, and so I greeted him and asked him what he thought happened after life.  There was resistance, but he stuck around for a quarter of an hour for me to reason with him about the gospel.  The chat went okay, and we parted ways with him receiving 2 kinds of tract: “Who Made It?” and “Says Who?”.  All glory to God for helping me.

That was the extent of that outreach.  Just 15 minutes, with 1 person.  I leave him in God’s hands.  But what encouraged me was, near the end of the evening, in among a very large gathering of people, I saw the same guy again!  He was hanging out with some friends.  He saw me too, and I guess I’ll describe his look as one of embarrassment - was it because I talked to him about religion?  Was it conviction?  Was it something else?  Who knows.  I just smiled at him and moved on.

Sunday’s outreach was busy.  I was at my usual spot at the corner of Cashel and Colombo.  Ballantynes was closed, but other shops were open, so there were people around.

I gave a tract to a guy, but just as I was doing that, I noticed four people investigating my flip chat, so I went over to engage them.  They were very resistant to the idea of God being real, in spite of my reasoning, and they moved on.  But, soon after, the guy I gave the tract to came over.  He was encouraged to see me doing what I’m doing.  His Dad used to preach in central Christchurch, and had taken him out with him.  I was so encouraged to hear that!  God always provides a witness.  I wonder who will come after us?

But, the rest of the outreach was a conversation with a couple who have recently become Christian and are involved with a local church.  It was encouraging to see the fresh enthusiasm, but at the same time there was a lack of gospel clarity.  Multiple times in the conversation I was able to check and work on that clarity.  By the end of the chat, I think he was starting to see how subtly we can slip back into works for salvation.  I encouraged him to preach the gospel to himself, all day and everyday.  I was also able to encourage him in other ways too.  It seemed like a very mutually encouraging chat.

All glory to God!
 

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You are always guaranteed to meet someone interesting on the streets of Toowoomba...and 2022 was no different.

Earlier this year, Merv and I (Doug) spoke to X, who is a well-known personality with whom we have shared the Gospel with the past. X- was absolutely livid, as some teens had recently stolen his bike. He was angry and (understandably) spoke in long paragraphs to us.

We did our best to listen to X and to help him figure out ways to get his bike back. We also got onto the topic of Christianity and X told us that he used to be part of a Christian band.

X knew a fair bit of Scripture….but he also enjoyed tangents so Merv gently yet firmly brought X back to the question of X’s current relationship with Jesus every time.

It was a challenging discussion but we appreciated X’s candor. To the best of our knowledge, he is not ready to follow Christ at this stage but we strongly encouraged him to connect with a Church community and seriously consider his soul.

This year we also met D-. He used to own a food van business and had roughly $200,000 in the bank.

Yet D- lost it all during the Covid pandemic. He hit rock bottom and he even found himself being looked after by someone he once looked after.

In this bleak time, D came to realise the importance of a relationship with God. He prayed “God if you will forgive me for my sin I will follow you for the rest of my life.”

D- is now following God and is part of a local Church. D- even asked Merv and Howard for Gospel tracts to put in the mailboxes around his place! He wants to show others who Jesus is and we were greatly encouraged by his life story and what God is presently doing in D-’s life.

During our travels, we were also able to meet a number of people who had misunderstandings about Jesus.

We had an interesting discussion with M-, who is an indigenous lady who has some background in Christianity. She had recently been experiencing visions of Jesus but had a very mixed understanding of who He is. We spoke with M- for some time and we hope that M- can sort the fact from the fiction which she had picked up in her travels.

A middle-aged bloke name K- also had a number of misunderstandings about Jesus. Merv gently corrected his misunderstanding of who Jesus was and also shared the good news about what Jesus has done.

Our conversations with M- and K- were respectful, warm discussions and we’d like to ask for prayer for both of them.


Other adventures (in brief)
 

-We met a big friendly atheist bloke who was waiting for his family outside a shopping centre. He happily spoke to Elisa and Merv for some time about the issues of eternity.

- We had a significant misunderstanding with a member of one of the local Jehovah's Witnesses. While we have had good relationships with 99% of the businesses and “regulars” in the CBD...it is inevitable that misunderstandings do arise occasionally in the 17 years we’ve been evangelising in Toowoomba.

While opposition is inevitable (Matt 5:11-12) our heart is to eliminate “unnecessary offense”...because the Gospel is offensive enough!

We will continue to love everyone we meet and to treat them as people...not projects.

-We met two Christian homeless men who encouraged Merv and Howard. One even traded Gospel tracts with Merv!

-Kx, who is a local middle-aged man. Kx is a Christian who is going through a rough time. Interestingly, Kx also knows people at Toowomba Northside Baptist where Merv and Elisa attend. Merv and Elisa invited him to Church the following day.

-There was that time Merv offered a tract to a woman at a bus stop. She declined and Merv went away and spoke to someone else nearby. She overheard. Afterwards she said she’d take a tract after all!

-The Carnival of Flower and the Christmas Lights Festival in Queens Park remained our biggest outreaches of the year. We were able to share the Gospel with close to 3000 people through both regular and Christmas themed tracts. We had some great conversations with Christians who either encouraged us or were looking for a Church to attend. We also had conversations with some non-Christians who wanted to discuss different sets of ideas with us.

Overall 2022 has been a big year. We are thankful for all the opportunities that Jesus gave us this year and we excited to see what is ahead in 2023!

 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Sunnybank on Wednesday Dec 28th, 2022 from 1300 – 1500

Today I went solo again to do street outreach at the Sunnybank northbound bus stop. the people flow was not great. I only had a few meaningful conversations as recap below. For most of the cases, people just hurriedly passing by. By God gave me a surprise to meet up with Ann who used to do Sunnybank outreach with us on Thursday after her religious education at the Sunnybank State School. She just said farewell to her Aussie friends after possibly a lunch gathering. She was surprised to see me serving there all by myself and thought we the Operation 513 team have stopped all the street ministry. I told her she is welcome to join us now every Wednesday from 1300 to 1500. But not for the next two week as I will be setting off for a Muslim country gospel outreach from 4-20/1/2023. Pray that God will move her to re-join us after such a long break out of miscommunication.

1) I chose between two chatting man and woman couple and a single old lady. The natural choice of course was not to disturb the couples conversation but got connected with the old lady. She appeared friendly and receptive to the gospel. But the time I had was barely enough for me to finish the nutshell of the gospel without the follow up interaction and also not even able to get her name. Pray for God's own follow up work.

2) Then I was led to approach a disabled man with difficulty in mobility though he can walk in a lamp manner. He obviously looks a bit self-pity, but I approach him to ask for his nationally. He chose to tell me he is a local Aussie but with parents’ mom from Philippine and an Aussie Dad. I said no wonder he doesn't look a bit like Filipino but more a while Caucasian man. In view of the imminent arrival of the bus, I rushed through the gospel again finishing the nutshell and he delightfully took a tract. I trust he felt being respected a treat equally as an ordinary person. Pray also for God's follow up work.

3) Then I was urged to approach a pregnant woman who did not disclose where she is originally from. She even appeared rejective to the gospel message, but the Holy Spirit kept her still to allow me to share and finished the Gospel. She did not take the tract, but I still have full trust in God to lead me to approach a difficult and cold heart person like her.

4) There were other piece meal broken short approaches with blunt rejection or excuse to be on the run. I ended up staying only for an hour to call for the day as I purchased some frozen food that cannot last long in the car under the summer heat. So, next Wednesday will be my date of departure for mission. Will be away and be back 25/1/2023.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

This report is covering the 3 days of street outreach surrounding Christmas day.  Thankfully Christmas day is NOT a good day for street outreach - instead people are thinking about the birth of Jesus and spending time with their families instead.

On Friday the 23rd, there was a team of 6 out in the city.  Only Roger and I were regulars, so it was great to have 4 others: Josh, Caleb, Tanushree, and Daniel.  We paired up.  Roger had his flipchat up in the usual spot, and Daniel joined him.  Tanushree and Caleb were using my flipchart, and Josh and I did ‘walk up’.

From my perspective, the outreach was stellar.  I had 2 amazing chats, plus change (and who knows, it may be one of the extra chats that God uses to save someone).

The first chat was with a young man that I thought I had talked to during a previous outreach.  It was a case of mistaken identity, but it led to an opportunity for a great conversation.  Unfortunately the young man thought ‘keeping the ten commandments’ would get him to heaven.  He revealed that he is a PK, which made me inwardly cringe.  Anyway we took a look at a few of the commandments to see how he would get on.  I then had the privilege of sharing the gospel with him and working through most of the checks.  I think the most powerful check was the ‘before / after conversation’ one.  He was able to articulate for himself, that before the chat, since he was trusting in his works, he would have been heading to hell.  But now that we had had the conversation, he now knew the right way to heaven.

He is new to Christchurch, and although he goes to a church, he was keen to know which churches Josh and I went to.  I gave him a card for my church, and we even connected on Instagram (I was able to follow up with him afterwards).

Josh and I spent some time discussing evangelism practice, before we started handing out Christmas tracts.

I noticed a young lady sitting on one of the seats near us, and so I offered her a tract too.  It was almost like she had been sitting there hoping I would offer.  She was very keen to chat.  And so I sat next to her to do just that.

For me, this was the stellar chat of the day. We covered the gamut: evil and suffering, homosexuality, dinosaurs, evolution, how we know God is real, and of course, the law and the gospel, plus many checks.

There was a God moment, where I touched on something in a general sense, and I could tell it was a very personal issue for her and was able to directly address it.

She left, not only with a Christmas tract, but a gospel of John.  I was clicking my heels after that chat!

Josh had to leave at this point, but the outreach was nearly over anyway.  I ended up pairing up with Tanushree for a final walk up chat.  I noticed that Roger and Daniel were talking to Simon the Atheist.

As a team, we went to the cafe in Ballantynes, low and behold, Simon the Atheist was there too!  He had his laptop out and was working.  Simon and Roger were having an extended chat while the rest of the team debriefed in various ways over hot chocolate.

Once we were all ready to go, I went to pay for the drinks, and I was told that Simon the Atheist had already paid for all of us!  What a blessing.  When I first met Simon, over a year ago now, he had a very “new” Atheist edge about him (all religions are bad).  He’s changed.  I continue to pray for Simon!

Saturday was Christmas Eve, and I was in my usual spot in Riccarton.  It was great to have Martin from Hamilton (down on holiday) join me.  I was expecting there to be a lot of foot traffic with people going to the mall to buy Christmas gifts.  But there wasn’t as much as I expected.  But it was still a busy outreach.  I gave out a lot of tracts, as well as having a number of good chats - including 2 (separate conversations) with people who work in the area.  I hope to see them again, God willing.

Today, being Boxing Day, I figured there would be lots of people out to shop for bargains, so I scheduled 2 outreaches.  The first in Riccarton, and then the second in the city.  Martin joined me in Riccarton again.  I wasn’t wrong.  There were HEAPS of people out.  I focused on tracts, and we gave away so many in Riccarton, I had to head home to get more before going into the city!

People in Riccarton seemed way more open than those in the city, but I ended up giving away lots of tracts there too.  I think I’ll make Boxing Day a special tract outreach for future years (God willing).

I had many good chats too.  The last one of the day was with a young Catholic guy called Liam.  He came back at the end of the outreach, after semi-engaging with me earlier.  His mum was in Ballantynes, and so he had the time now.  He wanted to discuss my earlier questions: “what do you have to do to get to heaven?”.  He said that Protestants believe in “Sola Fide” (faith alone), but Catholics in Faith plus Works (and he was right).  And so, this being a critical distinction, I worked to convince him why it must be Sola Fide.  Great chat.  He already had a tract (not received on this outreach) and he said he had it with his confessional (not sure what he meant by that, I could have heard it slightly wrong).  Anyway, I pleaded with him to Trust alone in Christ alone and to get in touch to discuss further.

Soli Deo Gloria!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Sunnybank on Wednesday Dec 21st, 2022 from 1400 – 1500

Today, I did my regular Street outreach by myself. I have to keep up with the habit to do weekly outreach to keep my spirit high ready for a mission trip to Turkey early next year in January. It will be a highly unstructured sort of random outreach by the lead of the Spirit, somewhat similar to the street outreach I am doing right now in Australia but with even higher uncertainty of the whereabout and who the Spirit will lead us to approach in a 100% strange place. The only refuge and fortress is God Himself. It was still a very interesting outreach experience for today as recap below: -

1) Rita from PNG, I used the Peace Child story of Don Richardson to attract her interest. She though born in PNG but has not heard about the tribal fighting legend story. The PNG tribes Don was serving is a cannibalistic tribe. They however welcome western white people living amongst them to elevate their status. Two neighbouring tribes fight for Don's presence in their tribes to the extent that Don threatened to leave them for a new place. Finally, the two constantly fighting tribes reached a peace treaty by sending one of their new born baby child to become hostage of the enemy tribes as such peace would prevail as long as the Peace Child is well and alive. Don Richardson realized this custom of the two enemy tribes can be used as a metaphor to Jesus Christ who was send to become a Peace Child to the human world which have effectively fallen as a enemy of God because of our sinning against God and against each other’s. Rita was amazed to hear about this PNG legendary story and understood more about the role of Jesus coming to die for our sins to save us from eternal death punishment.

2) Japanese Alluvia has already migrated to Australia with his parents, but his mindset is still of oriental Buddhist spirit looking forwards to find peace in life by reaching harmony with the environment. I anyway shared the full gospel to him which he admitted not having heard about it before. So, pray that the seed of Gospel will change this westernized Japanese’s mindset to understand the atoning grace of Jesus dying for our sins.

3) Then I caught up with Rita from Taiwan who was very interactive in the course of gospel sharing. After hearing the gospel, she asked if a murderer will also be saved after he had killed many people and was sentenced the capital punishment. I made us of the famous case of Chen Jin Shin, who exactly committed series of great crime of robbery, rape and murders. But after he was caught and visited by Christians including his last hostage being the ambassador of South Africa, he received Christ through their forgiving love especially the younger daughter who drew picture to ask for God forgiveness be granted to Chen while she was held hostages. It was a perfect case to illustrate the power of Christ atoning death to set us free from the bondage of sin.

4) Rejected bluntly by a lady from the Mainland

5) Yet God let me catch up another lady from Hong Kong who was willing to listen, though the bus cam a bit too quick.

6) Last, I had a long conversation as well with Mr Zhou from Xian apart from sharing the full Gospel, , I was able to share my life testimony to demonstrate the life changing power to a self-righteous person like me.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

The street outreaches for the week were in hot summer weather.  Tuesday and Saturday in Riccarton, and Friday in the City.  I took Sunday off.

It was so good to have Caleb with me on Tuesday and Friday.  Caleb (pictured) has applied to come on the Philippines trip in March next year and is joining me so we can get to know each other better, and to get skilled up in preparation.  Roger was also with us on Tuesday.

Much of my time on the Tuesday outreach was spent in getting Caleb up to speed on the way we share the gospel on the street, via the flip chart.  But, near the end of the outreach I had an opportunity to share the gospel with 3 people going past.  I wanted to use the flip chart, so that Caleb would get a chance to get involved and to see how it works in action.  But I could sense that these 3 people could bolt at the slightest distraction, and so I had to minister while I had their attention.  At the start of the chat, one of the key reasons they didn’t believe God is real is that they couldn’t reconcile the existence of God with evil in the universe.  So, I gave the biblical answer, found in Romans 9:22-23 (and elsewhere in the bible): God not only allows evil, but decrees that it will occur without ever doing evil himself so that he can demonstrate 3 things about himself for his glory.  Without evil people, he can’t demonstrate his: justice, mercy and patience (in holding off justice so mercy can be received).  Now, this answer has to be delivered with a large dose of compassion.  But, in this situation, I could see the light of understanding come into the eyes of all 3 of them, it opened them up and I was able to clearly minister the law and the gospel into their lives, and plead with them to accept the mercy of God found only in the sacrifice of Jesus.  I was really encouraged by the conversation.

Friday’s outreach was in muggy weather.  It had been raining, but during the outreach the sun came out.  Caleb and I set up the flip chart down Cashel Mall.  It was a very busy outreach!  I think lots of people were out with Christmas shopping.

People I wouldn’t normally expect were stopping to chat.  Many were attracted by the flip chart.

I had a couple of guys come to argue with me on the existence of God, they didn’t seem to get what they expected, which was someone with no answers.  They were challenged, but sadly doubled down on their resistance and moved on without hearing the good news.

I had a lady stop to engage.  I sensed she would bolt at any moment, and yet, at the same time, she was very engaged.  I started out with a summary of the law / gospel, and the longer she stayed, the deeper the explanations went.  She is from Auckland, and there had been a hellfire preacher up there that had put her off.  And yet, she came to talk to me knowing I’m a Christian.  Maybe the hellfire preacher had pricked her conscience?  I explained hell, in the context of God’s mercy.

I was keen for Caleb to get into his own chat, and so I got one started, passed it to him, and then stepped away.  It was so good watching him engage, and hold the attention of the two guys.  Well done Caleb!

Saturday was busy.  I talked to a universalist who slid slightly by the end of the chat.

But the stand out chat in my memory was with a couple.  She approached me on her own.  Her husband had recently become a Christian, and she was still trying to process the world view change.  Her husband came and joined the chat, and it was so encouraging to hear his explanation of the gospel!  He has been studying the Bible intensely, is involved with a good local church, and is listening to good teachers.  His understanding of the gospel is flawless.  I was so encouraged to actually see the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in the life of a new believer!  My prayer is that the Holy Spirit would illuminate the gospel in the heart of his wife.  My God bless this young couple!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Sunnybank on Tuesday Dec 13th, 2022 from 1400 – 1500

Today, I specially teamed up with Rev Min Yaw Law the SMA NC elect, and Dr Daniel Sze the missionary to the first nation people of the Baptist Mission Australia. They came for many other missions and objectives, but were interested to know how we do Street outreach. We prayed together and then I let them have freedom to be led by the Spirit to do it their way or stayed by to observed what I did. Rev Law chose the latter and accompanied me for a while. We ended up doing for an hour outreach there. Recap is the Battle log for today.

1) I was first led to approach Alex a Korean young man. After I finished my gospel sharing, he indicated he is a Christian readily, then I switched to test for his assurance of salvation. He frankly admitted it was not yet 100%. I quickly clarified before the bus came that it was only because of the work of Jesus Christ that we are 100% saved and be given back our long-lost heavenly citizenship.

2) I was led to approach an Aussie who was willing to chat for a while about the good person concept, but was excused to take call. I left him with a tract anyway, after waiting a while that he seemed having no quick intention to end the call.

3) Then I approached a Hong Kong woman who has no religious background. She was happy to chat until the bus arrived.

4) Then I was led to approach a South Indian old man with a red spot on his forehead. He appeared friendly but pardon for his bad English. I still managed to use the tract and the pictures to convey the message. Finally, he really had to leave with a tract bringing home.

5) Then I caught up with a Man from Canton China. He was sceptical about good and who can defined what is good. . I used my usual tactics to ask even though non one can defined what is good. But can he name anyone who is perfect in this world. So, when we are not perfect, we are in trouble of facing judgment after death. The bus cam and he left with a tract.

6) Finally, I caught up with Eva an Indonesia girl come to learn English. I managed to use more simple English to share the message and she felt good about it.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

A normal week this week.  All the usual street and online outreaches happening.  Although they all had a Christmas theme.  Yes, it is that season again, where I say, “Merry Christmas” over and over while handing out tracts, and when someone stops, my usual opening question is, “what do you think Christmas is all about?”  The street outreaches have all been busy, but in different ways.

On Tuesday, I had Roger with me in Riccarton, and we decided to pair up on one flip chart together.  But before Roger arrived, I had a special opportunity.  A young asian girl stopped and accepted a tract and we fell into a short, yet warm conversation.  Her gospel articulation wasn’t the best, but she said she was a new Christian.  It felt like a divine appointment in the sense that she had just been praying about her lack of desire to do the things she knew she should: reading the bible, etc.  Where I think I helped was bringing the gospel clarity that doing good wasn’t required to be saved – and understanding that would lead to a disciple, if not a desire to study the bible, etc.  At least, she really appreciated the short chat!  She encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing.

Roger and I were busy.  Often one of us would be using the flipchart, while the other was talking to someone else to the side.  Great teamwork!  I love serving alongside Roger!  2 chats stand out in my mind.

The first was a flipchart chat with a young man.  Classic ‘good deeds’ for heaven, but as I took him through the flipchart, his understanding of the gospel brought a shine to his eyes!  It wasn’t a long chat, because he wasn’t resistant; but he was extremely thankful by the end.

The second was a chat without the flipchart.  A large group of high school students went past, and then they came back.  One of them sat on the bench nearby.  Roger was using the flipchart, so I went and engaged him - he was resistant.  He walked off, and joined his friends around the corner.  They were sitting on another bench, so I decided to approach them all.  I told them what their friend had said to me, and I wanted to know their thoughts.  Game on!  They were all in different places.  Some wanted to talk, some just listened.  Mostly they were resistant.  I just went with the flow, and in the process, I was able to share the law and the gospel with them.  One of their key questions was about homosexuality.  Initially, I countered that with: “I’ll answer that, if you first tell me how we know what is right and wrong.” - that led to a good discussion.  I was faithful in explaining why homosexuality is sinful, yet in the context of the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus.  Eventually, the kids started peeling off and moving on.  And finally the chat came to an end.  Later they came back, and went into the SoYo (frozen yoghurt shop).  The original kid came out after and approached me again and wanted to know what the flip chart was about.  I said I’d be happy to take him through it, but only if he was nice (he had been pretty rude earlier).  He had seemed to change slightly - for the better, he was a little bit more sober and respectful.  But his mates came out and he ended up moving on with them.

On Friday, rain was threatening, and I was considering cancelling the outreach - I nearly did.  But one of the newbies convinced me not to!  Hey, if they are keen, so am I!

In the end, the rain held off, which was great!  Plenty of people were around, so there were lots of gospel opportunities.  This week, Andy paired Izzy, and I paired with Joel (a switch from the week prior).  After prayer, Andy and Izzy got straight into a chat.  And soon after, Joel and I approached a young high school student from Germany and got into a great chat with him.  He was an atheist, and sadly continued to stay in suppression of his knowledge of God.  Yet, I was able to share the law and gospel, before we cycled back to discuss the knowledge of God we all have.

After the chat, Joel, John and I had a bit of a debrief.  Andy and Izzy were still going with their chat!  In fact, for the whole 2 hour outreach, they only had 2 conversations - so great to get engagement and be able to labour!

Joel and I headed down Cashel Mall, and were able to get a few chats started, but no real engagement.  Our last chat was okay - law and gospel shared.  Glory to God for any fruit; the simple gospel message is the power of God for salvation.

Afterwards, we had a bit of a debrief, as a team, over hot chocs - pictured

Saturday’s outreach in Riccarton was hot, and busy.  I was grateful for the shade of the tree.  It was busy in the sense of all the conversations I was able to have.  No real down time, which is a good thing!  I had my flip chart up, but I never used it.

My first chat was with a guy who I thought was going to blast past me, but he ended up accepting a tract. I was quick with my first question, and to my amazement, he answered.  Slowly he engaged in the conversation and he ended up hearing the law and the gospel.  It was a short chat, but I was able to slow down a bit as he became more engaged.  I was really encouraged.  I spoke to a girl who is pagan (my Christmas question really got engagement from her: “it’s a pagan festival”).  She was resistant, but friendly.  In the end, her issue was evil and suffering.  She didn’t like God for allowing it.  Actually, now that I think about it, most of the chats that day were with people who were resistant.  But that’s okay.  God can change hearts and minds, through the power of the Gospel!

Sunday’s outreach was busy, but in a different way.  In the city, corner of Colombo and Cashel, next to all the people filling through the department store Christmas display windows.  I gave out heaps of Christmas gospel tracts!  I’d say nearly 100 in 2 hours.  I did also have some chats, so not all that time was spent in tract giving.  One stand out chat was with a young man from Korea.  He had a Christian background (it turned out to be Catholic), he thought his good deeds would get him to heaven, but by the end of the chat, he was articulating the right way to heaven well.

Well, I’ve managed to waffle my way through another report.  If you are still reading well done!  I know my reports are pretty repetitive.  But, that’s a good thing, right?  The gospel is going out!  Please keep this little ministry in prayer.  Without the power of the Spirit, our effort is in vain!  Merry Christmas!
 

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