Evangelism Quote:
“A momentary experience of the goodness of God may not be regarded as constituting newness of life.”
-Joseph Parker
Evangelism Opportunities:
1. Saturday, February 2nd, 5:00PM; Mardi Gras Festival in Dallas
We will meet at 5:00PM at Countryside Bible Church to travel to Dallas to evangelize atthe “Mystiqal” Mardi Gras parade and festival.The event is centered at Victory Park, at the American Airlines Center, where we went last week to witness at the Van Halen concert. We will travel to the TRE train station in North Richland Hills, park for free and ride the train to Victory Station ($5.00 round trip, 5:45PM train). Please keep in mind that this event is being billed as an “authentic” Mardi Gras experience. For this outreach, we will not allow anyone under the age of 18 to attend. In fact, we advise that you are prayed up and even consider fasting before this event, seeking the Lord’s enabling and protection during this event. To learn more about the festival, please go here: http://www.quickdfw.com/mystiqal/. The parade starts at 7:30PM and we will infiltrate the parade route and the festival, passing out tracts, doing one-to-one and possibly open-air preaching. We will return on the 10:29PM train and arrive at North Richland Hills at 11:15PM.
Evangelism Report:
This report is just a record of what a few guys who decided to obey the Lord’s command to go out and preach the Gospel to every creature did this past Saturday night in Dallas. We hope that it will inspire you to be a little bolder for Jesus Christ this week. We are nothing special and endowed with no special talent or gifting.
On Saturday night we went to the American Airlines Center to pass out tracts and witness at the Van Halen concert. Tim and Tristen (age 6) Crawford, Ron Martinez and myself met at Ron’s house, traveled to the TRE train station in North Richland Hills, and took the train to the concert. We started slowly, trying to pass out a few tracts on the train. When we arrived at Victory Station (the AAC stop), we got out and immediately started giving tracts to the folks getting off of the train, mostly Living Waters’ “Million Dollar Bill” tracts. We made our way up to the AAC, tracting as we went. When we got there, we found the crowds lining up in long lines to enter the concert.
Ron saw the opportunity and began working the line closest to the train station. Seeing that he and Tim were making short work of that entrance, I worked my way around the building to the next entrance and hit the north entrance’s line with tracts; again, mostly million dollar bills and then when I ran out, switching to Giant Money. The majority of the people took the tracts without complaint, even though most guessed what they were. When that line began to enter the building, I swung around to the east entrance and passed out tracts along the way.
There weren’t many at the east entrance, so I kept going to the south entrance where Victory Plaza is located. This is where Dallas’ New Years Eve party was this year and it is quite a sight, with three elaborate jumbo tron TV screens. Local rock radio stations were set up in booths, broadcasting live from the plaza. This is where I found Ron, with a big grin on his face, passing out bunches of tracts. Immediately I tried calling Tim so he could come over; it was clearly the busiest spot at the AAC. People were approaching the plaza in human waves. Public transit dropped off thousands of people at this location.
When I couldn’t get Tim on the phone right away, I began working my way back around the AAC to try to find him. This is where I had my divine appointment of the night. Jose was dropped off right at that corner and I gave him a Giant Money tract. He loved it and we just began talking. We talked about spiritual things and Jose had no religious background, which is refreshing in Texas. I cannot say that my presentation of the Gospel was eloquent at all; I stumbled and fumbled my way through it. Jose was also a little tipsy, which may have contributed to the communication breakdown. As I wrapped it up, he sincerely thanked me for stopping him and talking with him. I asked him if he had a Bible at home and he said he did not. I asked him if he would read one if I gave him one and he said he would, so I got one out of my backpack and handed it to him. His reaction surprised me; he was thrilled. He tried giving it back, but I insisted he keep it, and he got really excited. He thanked me over and over, hugged me and then started pointing to Heaven and thanking God. I have never seen a reaction like this one. I gave him another tract with our church’s website and my email printed on the back. Pray for Jose’s salvation as he reads the Word of God.
Tim made his way over and the four of us began blitzing the waves of humanity with Gospel tracts as they approached the AAC. Ron had a great one-to-one with a guy named Eric. Eric was so interested that after he went into the AAC, he came back out to ask Ron more questions! Pray for Eric’s salvation!Tim had a lengthy conversation with a Swiss gentleman in the line named Jan (sounds like “yahn”). Jan is involved in New Age practices. At first he was hardened against the Gospel, but warmed to Tim as he spoke to him reasonably, answering his objections. Pray for Jan’s salvation. Tim also had an instance where a professing Christian cussed him out while waiting in line. When Tim called him out for claiming to be a Christian and using foul language, the rest of the crowd was won over and they all took tracts! Praise God.
On the way back to the car (on the train) we spoke with a young couple who are from a Oneness Pentecostal background. They claimed that you have to be baptized in the name of Jesus alone and speak in tongues to be saved. We tried reasoning with them from the Word, but they held their position. We gave them some tracts, including one with Countryside’s website. Pray that they would come to trust Christ alone and not their works. Pray that they would repent of their idolatry towards the Oneness Pentecostal god (they do not believe in the Trinity).
Ron speaks with Eric
Tristen gives a tract while Tim looks on
A smaller “wave” of people in Victory Plaza
Evangelism Resources:
1. I have started a new blog called “The Informed Evangelist” (not to be confused with Paul Kaiser and Jeff Fuller’s most excellent “Reformed Evangelist”). This blog has a different emphasis than most other evangelism blogs out there. It is meant to encourage evangelists to be discerning readers. You can read the first post (and all succeeding ones) here: http://www.informedevangelist.blogspot.com/.
2. The TLC website is nearing completion. The audio and video files are still awaiting upload, but the articles in .pdf form are all available under “Free Resources.” You can learn a little bit about what we are hoping to accomplish in the “About Us” section. We’ll give you updates here as new features are added. We hope that the site will be an encouragement and an equipping source as well. Here is the site: http://lostcauseministries.com.
3. Here’s an unusual Scientology resource: Tom Cruise’s inspirational video for Scientologists.The “Church” is working to suppress this video on the internet. It’s kind of scary because you see here how otherwise intelligent people are brainwashed in their mythology. Cruise keeps referring to “getting it done”; he is referring to spreading Scientology. If you have never spoken with a Scientologist, this will introduce you to their attitude and manner of conversation. Here’s the link: http://gawker.com/5002269/the-cruise-indoctrination-video-scientology-tried-to-suppress
4. Another Scientology resource: BBC did an expose of Scientology called Scientology and Mewhich is available on Youtube in four parts. You can watch all four parts here: http://tinyurl.com/2ag7e2. Just click on “Scientology And Me, Part 1” to start and look for parts 1-4. Each segment is 7 minutes long or so.
5. Don’t forget about the church’s upcoming “Solus Christus” conference! You can register nowat the church website. Speakers include Dr. John MacArthur, Phil Johnson, Dr. Al Mohler, Mike Gendron, and Pastor Tom Pennington. Check it out here: http://www.countrysidebible.org/sola/.
Evangelism Equipping Opportunities:
1. On February 29th at 7:00PM, you are invited to the Speed’s home in Justin for an informal time of fellowship and planning for our local evangelism outreach in 2008. Please bring a snack or dessert to share. We will discuss upcoming outreaches and opportunities for training, as well as sharing good evangelism resources. If you have ever been to one of the outreaches, or would like to become more involved, please put this date on your calendar and make it a priority to attend. The Speed’s address is 16529 Woodside Drive Justin, TX 76247. For directions, call 972-310-7806.
2. On March 22nd, TLC Ministries will hold its first one day evangelism training seminar. The location is TBD, but will run from 9:00AM to 2:00PM. Please watch this update for more details in the weeks ahead.
Blessings,
Jon Speed
http://lostcauseministries.com
Church website: http://countrysidebible.org