Evangelism Quote:

“Only God omniscient can accurately appraise the results of evangelism. Only He can count converts.” – R.B. Kuiper in “God Centered Evangelism”, page 221

Evangelism Opportunities:Important note: If you are planning on coming out to join us, please let us know! If we have to make a change of plans, we need to know who is planning on coming so we can contact you. You can either call Jon at 972-310-7806 (cell) or email him at jon@lostcauseministries.com.

1. Thursday, April 3rd, 11:00AM-3:00PM: TLC Ministries will be doing evangelism at the University of North Texas in Denton. We have reserved a free speech area on campus and will pass out tracts, do one-to-one and open-air preach. You can find directions to the campus at www.unt.edu. If you would like to join us, please let me know. We will be in front of the Student Union Building, Free Speech Area A, near the bus stop on Union Circle.

2. This weekend: NASCAR Samsung 500, week of March 29-April 6. There are a multitude of exciting opportunities to do servant evangelism for the fans and workers at the Texas Motor Speedway! TLC Ministries is serving with Texas Alliance Raceway Ministries (TXARM) to bring seasoned Biblical evangelists to do one-to-one and tract distribution at this event. Opportunities include childrens ministry, golf cart evangelism, information table staffing, night shift at the ministry tent, and much, much more! If you would like to discuss the opportunities, please contact either Tim (tim@lostcauseministries.com) or Jon (jon@lostcauseministries.com) to get involved!

3. Friday, April 11^th, 7:00PM-?? We are scoping out a potential ministry site in the West End Marketplace of Dallas on Friday nights. On the 11^th, we will meet at the parking lots of Countryside Bible Church and First Baptist in Justin at 7:00PM and travel to the West End (via the 7:34 TRE Train from the Centreport\DFW Station) to witness, pass out tracts and open-air preach.

Evangelism Report: University of North Texas, Denton:Witnessing is such an amazing privilege sometimes I take what we do for granted. Being an ambassador for Christ on a college campus is nothing short of an amazing, undeserved privilege.

This past Thursday, we (Tim Crawford, Stephen Starnes and myself) went out to UNT in Denton. I wasn’t confident that it would be a great day our usual free speech area was not available and there was a big “mock car accident” scheduled for the main quad. However, my estimation of things is seldom right and today was no exception. It was an AMAZING day! Did I mention that Thursday was amazing?

We prayed specifically to see some fruit today it’s been awhile since any of us have seen repentant sinners eager to embrace the Savior. Once we got there, we were not able to set up our literature table because it was just too windy. So, I brought out my mannequin, Lazarus and laid him on the ground next to the free speech area plaque. Almost as soon as I rolled him out of the bag, the first student came up and engaged me in a one-to-one.

“What’s the dummy for?” (This is how it would go all day today.)

Me: “It’s to get you to stop and ask, “What’s the dummy there for?” Works, doesn’t it!”

Them: (Laughter.) “Really, what’s this about?”

Me: “It illustrates the ultimate statistic: 10 out of 10 people die. It’s really popular, everybody’s doing it! (More laughter.) When you die, what do you think happens on the other side?”

And then we would launch off into discussions about their beliefs about eternal life, swing to the Law, etc. We used Lazarus all day (11AM-2:30PM) to not only one-to-one, but as a spring board for the OA preaching and even for passing out tracts! At UNT we’re not allowed on the sidewalk we have to stay on the grass as part of our agreement. Sometimes the students steer clear of the groups on the grass so it’s hard to get them over to you to take a tract. Not today! They came over to check out Lazarus and then we’d give them a tract!

Even the staff member who usually checks on us to make sure we’re not on the sidewalk came over and took a tract! She was very nice, which is the first time I’ve seen her treat us kindly.

I got to speak to a Muslim from Saudi Arabia, a girl who has rejected Christianity and turned to pagan Egyptian religion, a couple of Catholics, an atheist, a Church of Christ student (must be baptized to be saved), and a Baptist who trusted in her self-righteousness and not in Christ.

We continue to see real ministry happening during the open-airs. Some of the same hecklers come back each week (even though our free speech area was not the same one we’ve been using). A Roman Catholic theistic evolutionist has been coming back each week for four weeks! An atheist heckler named Samuel not only came back to heckle, he came back AGAIN later to ask serious questions. I had a good one-to-one with this guy even though the last time I saw him I had to order him to leave so I could preach. Look mom, I’m a friendship evangelist!

The Christians continue to be encouraged by our work there. Daniel and James came back for the fourth time in a row to listen and help with the one-to-ones. These brothers are working to get us into their Christian student group to teach evangelism! It’s such a blessing to have supportive Christians working with us instead of against us.

Back to our prayer for fruit. I had one former Roman Catholic who said flat out that she needs to leave Catholicism and get saved! She did not want to pray there on the spot, but she was with a Christian friend who would work with her and said she would get right with God on her own. Tim had a conversation with a professing atheist who backslid and became agnostic and then receptive to the Gospel! By the time Tim finished with him, he was in tears and told him that he would get right with God. Tim gave Jared a business card pray that Jared repents and begins following Christ!

One Day Crash Course & Southlake Town Square:

On Saturday, TLC Ministries conducted a Way of the Master One Day Crash Course at First Baptist Church in Justin. A total of 13 attendees came out to get trained in Biblical evangelism. This number may not sound like many people, but these attendees came from seven different churches! Praise the Lord!

The participants were taught Hell’s Best Kept Secret (the 10 commandments in witnessing), True & False Conversions, WDJD (a simple format for witnessing), Taming The Lion: How to Manage Your Fear, and then a role play session. We agreed to meet at Southlake Town Square to do evangelism later that same day.

At the Square, some of the day’s participants came out (Ron Martinez, Chris Diggs, Veronica & Samantha Speed), but we were also joined by some new friends from Weatherford (Scott, Rhonda and Micah Miller)! And Jimmy Reeseman also came out. It’s unusual for us to have ten people out sharing the Gospel in Southlake, but by God’s grace, that’s what we had.

Everyone had good one-to-ones at one point or another, especially with the groups of teenagers who hang around there. I had a good one-to-three with Aiden and his friends. Aiden’s family is going through a divorce and he was receptive. I thank God for this divine appointment with these guys. They had received tracts before in the Square, but admitted that they had never read them. That gave me the springboard to go ahead and share Christ with them.

Me and the girls had a good time walking around the area, passing out tracts. In the meantime, Tim Crawford had a lot of powerful conversations with the teenagers. Pray that these seeds will find good soil and bear fruit.

The Millers had expressed some interest earlier in the evening about seeing an open-air message. They had never seen one before. At the time, I made up a lame excuse for not doing one that night. As I left and tried to do some more evangelism, I felt convicted. I had preached a message on managing fear earlier in the day and here I had just made myself a hypocrite. I told the girls that we needed to get back to the fountain behind Brio’s and do an open-air.

When we got back there, I met the Millers and told them I was going to give it a shot. Their excitement really buoyed me up and gave me some additional courage. They even chipped in $20 and with the girls, helped form the “rent-a-crowd.”

I had two ten dollar bills and decided to give the first $10 away for anyone who could name 10 beers. A small crowd of teens gathered and a volunteer quickly named ten beers. Then another volunteer tried to name the 10 commandments for $10. He got six, so I offered him another chance at the $10 if he could prove that he was a good person, based on the 10 commandments. He thought he could, but we quickly established that he was a lying, thieving, adulterous, blasphemer. This set the stage to preach the Gospel.

The first kid who won the $10 for 10 beers started becoming disrespectful and mocking, so I challenged him with the fact that we’re all going to die one day, we don’t know when, and he should take this seriously. He argued with me a bit, and this drew more teens over to hear the Gospel. I preached the Word like Paul did; in weakness, fear and much trembling (1 Cor. 2:1-4). I am sure it was foolishness by any standard, but many of the kids got tracts and I was able to speak further to both the beer kid and the kid who tried the Good Person test afterwards.

Chris had a good one-to-one with a guy who was of a philosophical bent. Jimmy engaged in some one-to-ones with teens. To read some more about the conversations that Ron Martinez had, with some pictures, check out: www.gospeltotheperishing.blogspot.com.

Evangelism Resources: 1. Todd Friel is starting a new evangelistic\evangelism training TV program called “Wretched.” You can check out the promo here. 2. Here’s a helpful video exposing Oprah Winfrey as a New Age false teacher who has completely rejected Biblical Christianity. Send this along to your professing Christian friends who love Oprah Winfrey. Here’s the link.

3. Episode 3 of Speechless: Silencing the Christians is now available for FREE at www.silencingchristians.com. This episode features an interview with Tristen Emmanual, Canadian author of the book “Christophobia”. Evangelism Tip:Want to reach your neighbors with the Gospel? Start with something simple. Why not bake something for your neighbors and deliver it to their door with a Gospel tract? Kim Speed did this on Easter weekend and include the “Who Is Jesus?” tract from www.onemilliontracts.com. It’s incredibly simple, but a direct way to introduce the Gospel to your neighbors. Who knows? It might even lead to a conversation with them about the Gospel!

Evangelism Training Opportunity:June 11-15, 2008: TLC Ministries and OneMillionTracts.com will host an “Evangecamp” at beautiful Niagara Falls, NY. Come out for intensive “hands-on” training and practice of the principles of Way of the Master. We will do evangelism in downtown Buffalo, at a large art festival, and on the American and Canadian sides of the Falls. Learn more here.

In Christ,

Jon Speed & Tim Crawford

Church Websites:

Countryside Bible Church

First Baptist Church of Justin, TX

Evangelism Quote:

“Since we do not want only to be hearers of the Word, it is necessary to place ourselves in insecure situations in which we must lean hard on God. We are not saying that contact evangelism is the only way or that everyone will be equally gifted at it. But it is right to seek opportunities with strangers, and it is an important training experience for Christians in developing an ongoing life of evangelism. Jesus said, ‘I will make you fishers of men.’ Let’s throw out our nets broadly, expecting God to respond. We do not need to manipulate or force people; we merely tie in with the work that God is already doing in the hearts of those we meet…We need to learn how to be friendly, draw people out and confront them with the truth in a loving way” –Will Metzger Tell the Truth 225, emphasis mine

Evangelism Opportunities:

Important note: If you are planning on coming out to join us, please let us know! If we have to make a change of plans, we need to know who is planning on coming so we can contact you. You can either call Jon at 972-310-7806 (cell) or email him at jon@lostcauseministries.com.

1. Thursday, March 27^th, 11:00AM-3:00PM: TLC Ministries will be doing evangelism at the University of North Texas in Denton. We have reserved a free speech area on campus and will pass out tracts, do one-to-one and open-air preach. You can find directions to the campus at www.unt.edu. If you would like to join us, please let me know. We will be in front of the Student Union Building, Free Speech Area A, near the bus stop on Union Circle.

2. NASCAR Samsung 500, week of March 29-April 6. There are a multitude of exciting opportunities to do servant evangelism for the fans and workers at the Texas Motor Speedway! TLC Ministries is serving with Texas Alliance Raceway Ministries (TXARM) to bring seasoned Biblical evangelists to do one-to-one and tract distribution at this event. Opportunities include childrens ministry, golf cart evangelism, information table staffing, night shift at the ministry tent, and much, much more! If you would like to discuss the opportunities, please contact either Tim (tim@lostcauseministries.com) or Jon (jon@lostcauseministries.com) to get involved!

3. Friday, April 11^th, 7:00PM-?? We are scoping out a potential ministry site in the West End Marketplace of Dallas on Friday nights. On the 11^th, we will meet at the parking lots of Countryside Bible Church and First Baptist in Justin at 7:00PM and travel to the West End (via the 7:34 TRE Train from the Centreport\DFW Station) to witness, pass out tracts and open-air preach.

Evangelism Report:Sundance Square, Fort Worth:

On Friday night, a good contingent from TLC Ministries went out to publicly proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in downtown Fort Worth on Good Friday evening. It is always a blessing to witness during the “Holy Week” of Easter. People in the Bible belt are usually pretty open to the Gospel because they at least have a respect towards the Gospel. Tim Crawford, Jimmy Reisman, Chris and Tammy Diggs, Chad (sorry bro, don’t remember your last name), myself, Ron and Caleb Martinez all met up with Stephen Starnes’ group. Hundreds of tracts were distributed, Jon and Tim got to open-air preach, and there were many one-to-ones. It was exciting to see the new folks just coming out and diving deeper into Biblical evangelism!

My best one-to-one of the night was with a teenager, whose name escapes me at the moment. She was memorable because she said that she did NOT have a Christian background (very unusual in DFW), and does NOT attend church. I took her through a few of the Ten Commandments and she readily admitted to having lied, stolen and blasphemed. When I asked her if she would be innocent or guilty on the day of judgment, she readily admitted her guilt. When asked if she would go to Heaven or Hell, she quickly admitted that it would be Hell for her. At that moment, you could see the “light go on” in her eyes. She knew she was in big trouble on the day of judgment and she knew she had no excuse.

I asked her if she knew what God did for her so that she would not have to go to Hell. She said that she did not. When pressed, she really had no idea! This was so refreshing to me since almost everyone in DFW knows about the death and resurrection of Christ, but here was a precious soul who did not! I did my best to explain who Jesus is and why He died. I explained justification by faith and repentance and she seemed to understand. However, as happens so often, she was distracted by her friends and had to leave. She took a couple of Gospel tracts. Please pray that the seed planted will find good soil in her heart!

West End Marketplace, Dallas:

On Saturday night, Ron and I agreed to a change in plan. We had planned on going to Southlake Town Square, but we’re of the opinion that we may need to rest that venue for awhile. So, we drove over to the Centreport Train Station to catch the TRE to the West End Marketplace. When we got there, I got a call from Steve Murphy, who had planned on meeting us at Southlake! Oops! Well, we made the adjustment and Steve agreed to meet us in the West End. Thanks for your patience, Steve!

We met Steve over in the West End and started passing out tracts and doing one-to-ones. Although it was fairly slow, probably because of the coming holiday, we had a lot of good conversations. Ron had an especially fruitful night, with many great one-to-ones with professing Christians and some who were not.

Steve came out to just see what we were doing. This is an important first step, one that most Christians will never make! At this point I think it’s good to remind all of the readers of this blog that if you are feeling bashful about witnessing and are not sure if you could do a one-to-one or even pass out tracts, that’s OK! Come out anyway! It is always encouraging for the seasoned vets to have new people around. More importantly, you can be an important prayer support to all that is happening while it is happening.

My best one-to-one of the night was with a young man named Brandon who sat by the DART train station near West End. When I asked him if he was good enough to get to Heaven, his answer was a straightforward “no.” Again, this is SO unusual in DFW; most people are very self-righteous. I pressed him a little further and asked if he had kept the Ten Commandments. Sometimes people will cling on to a shred of self righteousness at this point, but again, Brandon said, “no.” When I asked him why he said that, he said, “I have done some freaky (expletive deleted).” One look in his eye told me that he meant what he said and was not proud of himself.

He knew about the death of Christ, but had no clue how to get right with God. I connected the holiday to the conversation and talked about Christ’s death and resurrection. We talked about justification by faith and the inability of works to save (Eph. 2:8-9). We talked about Biblical repentance. I gave Brandon a tract and asked if he had a Bible. He does, and so I encouraged him to read it. As I got ready to leave, Brandon reached for my hand and thanked me for “taking the time to talk about this” with him. Those who are not self-righteous will usually thank you for sharing the Gospel with them. How opposite this is from the preconceived notions so many Christians have of public evangelism! In DFW, the only ones who seem to get offended are either professing Christians or atheists who once claimed to be Christians.

Kennedy Assassination Site, Dallas:

As it drew near to 10:00PM, Steve had to leave and we started to make our way back to the train. On the way back is the old school book depository where Oswald perched as he murdered JFK. We stopped there. For the rest of the story, this comes from Ron Martinez’s blog:

This is Jon in front of the famous depository where Mr. Harvey shot Kennedy. You have to trust me, it’s back there. My point and shoot camera is not good enough to pick up the details. Why did I take this shot? Lee was instrumental in sending President Kennedy to his final destination. President Kennedy knows all too well now the penalty of sin, the worthlessness of a pope to absolve anyone’s sins. There is no escape from the wrath of God. God’s eternal punishment is the judgment of His perfect righteousness and justice.

On another note, just to Jon’s right are the x’s which mark the spots of President Kennedy’s murder. But more importantly, a Mexican family was there last night. I handed Spanish tracts out to all of them, and some English tracts to those who spoke English. There may have been ten in the family. I spoke to the father, Pedro. I asked if he was going to attend church. He said yes. I asked where he would attend. He said they attended a Catholic church. I waited a second. I pulled out a several Gendron tracts and gave it to various family members. I then proceeded to speak with Pedro not knowing how much time God would give me to tell him about Christ. He knew what I told him was right. Pedro said his sister left the Catholic church, but he did not know why. I told him why. Once the pope dies, his body will decay. Christ rose from the dead. He is our high priest and the only priest we need for forgiveness of sins. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross will restore us to His Father. Christ paid the full penalty for our sins. No pope has ever had the power to forgive sins. Christ alone!

Evangelism Resources:

1. Check out this short, powerful video clip from John Piper on the so-called “Prosperity Gospel”.

2. I am working on starting a neighborhood evangelistic Bible study here in our development in Justin. I am working on a blog site to communicate with potential attendees. It might be inspirational for someone here to try something similar. I also value feedback. Check it out here.

3. This is a MUST HEAR! Mark Dever interviews Will Metzger, author of Tell the Truth. They discuss Will’s testimony and his history in evangelism. Download it for free here. I am listening to this now and am thoroughly blessed by it. Great stuff.

Evangelism Training Opportunity:

This is your LAST CALL for the upcoming one day training at First Baptist Church in Justin! Actually, it’s the next to last call for many of you because I’ll be calling those of you we have not heard from so far:

March 29th, TLC Ministries will hold its first one day evangelism training seminar. The seminar will be held at the First Baptist Church in Justin, TX from 9:00AM to 3:00PM. You can get the address and mapquest the directions here. The training is FREE. We will go out and hit the streets at Southlake Town Square Saturday night to put into practice what we’ve studied.

Many thanks to 91.3 KDKR Radio for airing our 30 second radio spot several times each day during the Way of the Master Radio broadcast! Also thanks to First Baptist Church in Justin for running an announcement for several weeks in their bulletin, as well as doing a postcard mailing to their membership.

Evangelism Quote:

“When he said to His disciples, ‘As ye go, preach,’ he only expressed in a command a duty which He had already illustrated in His own ministry. That ministry was largely an open air ministry. Not in the synagogue or even in the house were His most memorable words spoken. The hillside, the fisher’s boat, the Galilean road, the slopes of Olivet, gave Him all He needed. –T. Howard Pattison in The History of Christian Preaching page 14, emphasis mine

Evangelism Opportunities:

Note: Due to Spring Break, there is no outreach at UNT Denton this week!

1. Friday, March 21^st, 7:00-10:00PM: Sundance Square in Fort Worth. We will meet at the CBC parking lot after the Good Friday Communion service, pray, and then go to downtown Fort Worth (Sundance Square) We will pass out tracts, do one-to-one and open-air, Lord willing. If you would like to meet us there, we will be at the corner of Third and Houston at 7:30PM. Keep in mind that there is free parking in a parking garage on Calhoun Street. If you need directions, call me at 972-310-7806.

2. Saturday, March 22^nd, 7:00-9:00PM: We will meet at Southlake Town Square. We will pass out tracts, do one-to-one and we might do some open-air, if the opportunity presents itself. If you would like to meet us there, we will be in the square near the fountain in front of Brio’s Restaurant at 7:00PM. If you need directions, call me at 972-310-7806.

3. Thursday, March 27^th, 11:00AM-3:00PM: TLC Ministries will be doing evangelism at the University of North Texas in Denton. We have reserved a free speech area on campus and will pass out tracts, do one-to-one and open-air preach. You can find directions to the campus at www.unt.edu. If you would like to join us, please let me know. We will be in front of the Student Union Building, Free Speech Area A, near the bus stop on Union Circle.

4. NASCAR Samsung 500, week of March 29-April 6. There are a multitude of exciting opportunities to do servant evangelism for the fans and workers at the Texas Motor Speedway! TLC Ministries is serving with Texas Alliance Raceway Ministries (TXARM) to bring seasoned Biblical evangelists to do one-to-one and tract distribution at this event. Opportunities include childrens ministry, golf cart evangelism, information table staffing, night shift at the ministry tent, and much, much more! If you would like to discuss the opportunities, please contact either Tim (tim@lostcauseministries.com) or Jon (jon@lostcauseministries.com) to get involved!

Evangelism Report:University of North Texas, Denton:

On Thursday, I met Stephen Starnes and Pastor Ted Winton at the campus of UNT to do some evangelism (Tim Crawford had been sick all last week with the flu and strep throat; keep him in prayer as he recovers). Once we got set up with the literature table, we began open-air preaching. Ted started off and preached a good, strong Gospel message. I followed, attempting to springboard off of the many anti-war protests that are scheduled over the next couple of months at UNT. I preached about how we are all at war with God and how Christ came to reconcile man and God. The preaching started slow and we did not get anyone to stop for any length of time.

Then Stephen stood up to open-air and one young man finally stopped and began to heckle him. Stephen had been preaching on Barack Obama’s “Change” political message and how we need Christ to change us. The heckler asked a lot of disjointed questions and was not a particularly good heckler. But he drew a good sized crowd, for which we were grateful. Stephen did a good job answering his questions, but he felt inadequate for the task. When his voice gave out, I stepped up and tried to shut the heckler down and get him to leave. He was hindering the preaching of the Gospel at this point, so I thanked him for bringing the crowd and told him it was time for him to leave. If he wanted to debate, we would give him an email address and he could set up the time and place, but we weren’t interested in a debate; we wanted to preach the Gospel.

At this point, the crowd surprised me and about half of them cheered and applauded! I’ve preached quite a bit at UNT over the last few years and have never had a reaction like that. It was very encouraging. We were able to get back to the Gospel. A couple more hecklers started in after the first one left and I stepped down to let Ted preach again. Eventually the crowd broke up into small groups, with many of the Christians witnessing to the lost students. Many students approached the literature table and took books, tracts and Bibles. Many Christian students made a point to encourage us either during the OA by standing with us as we preached, or by thanking us for coming to campus afterwards. One student left an anonymous note with Matthew 5:10-12 written out on it. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so encouraged doing open-air preaching.

At this point I had a good one-to-one with Roger, a Muslim student from Nigeria. Roger claimed that he is not practicing any religion right now, but defended his Muslim faith strongly when pressed. He had many apparent contradictions from the Bible to ask about and was not willing to listen to reasonable answers. In the end, I had to let him go, knowing that the Lord was not doing a work in his heart at that time. He understood that the key issue is the character of Jesus Christ. He could not accept the fact that He is God. He walked away, not repenting of the dead works of Islam (Heb. 6:1). Pray that the seed of God’s Word will find good soil in his heart.

We started the day dragging our feet and ended it clicking our heels.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Fort Worth:

On Saturday I met up with Chris Diggs and Jimmy Reisman (sp?), a couple of guys Tim Crawford is meeting with for discipleship, to pass out tracts at the parade in the Stockyards. The parade the last couple of years has been small and not very well attended. That wasn’t the case this year! The parade was still on the small side, but the sidewalks on Exchange Street were packed!

In a couple of hours, we passed out over 1,000 Giant Money tracts to the parade goers. The police allowed us to walk up the street in front of the crowd and hand out tracts. All we had to do was hold one of them up high and hands shot out from the crowd, asking for them. Adults and children from the opposite side of the street ran across to get them. By the end of the day (5:00PM) we had given out all of the Giant Money tracts that we brought!

Jimmy had a couple of good one-to-ones. Me and Chris spoke with a woman who is a professing Christian who actually attempts to witness on occasion! The only other attempt at a one-to-one I had was with the parking lot attendant, Manuel. Manuel was saved about five years ago and was greatly encouraged to see us out there doing evangelism.

Victory Park, Dallas:

This report comes from Ron Martinez, who was not able to attend the parade but went out to Victory Park in Dallas. He had the following experience in a coffee shop there:

“Last night, I witnessed to an employee who had read my tract I left a week ago with another employee! Paydirt! Witness for Christ now, it may not come again. The girl made my espresso, I slugged it down and gave her the tract that started our conversation.

Again, same story of the Law then Grace. She said she heard it all and in varying ways. She was always polite and listened to everything I said and never argued. I think because she new what Truth sounded like. After about 20 minutes and one customer interruption she finally said she didn’t know that she could believe in hell. That God would not send people to such a place.

I told her she was breaking the 2nd commandment, making a god of her own choosing. Also I told her that by her statement she didn’t believe in justice. If a judge would allow a rapist who raped her mother to go free even thought it had been 20 years since the crime was committed, then the judge would be equally guilty of rape! The judge would be corrupt. I told her God never allows any criminal to go free, He can’t! God is not corrupt, He judges everyone perfectly. Time does not forgive, and good deeds won’t either.I left her with the tract and more tracts on the counter. She didn’t want her picture taken, so this is all I have, a word picture. I pray she has her eyes opened and ears to hear, Christ can save her too. I’ll be back. I had to run to catch my 8:30 train back to Fort Worth. Another witness encounter on the train was about to happen. Praise God for His patience with sinners and His saints!”

Evangelism Resources:

1. Episode 2 of Speechless: Silencing the Christians is now available for FREE. This episode features an interview with Ann Coulter.

2. There are 300+ mp3 messages available from Sovereign Grace ministries for FREE. You can download them here.

3. Here is an excellent article on evangelism by Dr. John MacArthur.

Evangelism Training Opportunities:1. March 29th, TLC Ministries will hold its first one day evangelism training seminar. The seminar will be held at the First Baptist Church in Justin, TX from 9:00AM to 3:00PM. You can get the address and mapquest the directions here.

2. June 11-15, 2008: TLC Ministries and OneMillionTracts.com will host an “Evangecamp” at beautiful Niagara Falls, NY. Come out for intensive “hands-on” training and practice of the principles of Way of the Master. We will do evangelism in downtown Buffalo, at a large art festival, and on the American and Canadian sides of the Falls. Learn more here.

In Christ,

Jon Speed & Tim Crawford

Church Websites:

Countryside Bible Church

First Baptist Church of Justin, TX

Evangelism Quote: “No man can follow the example of another as such, unless he know what way he lived. So neither can any man follow Christ with respect to the catching of men in particular, unless he know Christ’s way of catching souls, that is, so far as it may be followed by us. Acquaint then thyself, O my soul, with the history of the gospel wherein this appears, and take special notice of these things, that thou mayest follow Christ. What a sad case must they be in that are not acquainted with this!” –Thomas BostonEvangelism Opportunities:1. Thursday, March 13^th, 11:00AM-4:00PM: University of North Texas, Denton TLC Ministries has reserved the free speech area at UNT for Thursday, near the Student Union and the statue of the eagle. We will be passing out tracts, engaging in one-to-ones, open-air preaching and will have the “Prayer Station” booth set up. If you would like to come, please let me know by email (jon@lostcauseministries.com) or call me on my cell at 972-310-7806.

2. Saturday, March 15^th, 2:30PM—6:00PM: St. Patrick’s Day Parade\Cowtown Goes Green event at the Stockyards in Fort Worth. These Stockyard parades on East Exchange Street are perfect for doing evangelism; the crowds are friendly and they take tracts easily. We will be passing out Giant Money tracts from Living Waters. Meet at Countryside Bible Church at 2:30PM and we will carpool to the Stockyards. If you prefer to meet us there, go to www.fortworthstockyards.org for directions.

Evangelism Report:This week was a bit different for us at TLC because the weather forced us to cancel the outreach at UNT on Thursday (who would have thought that Denton would get about nine inches of snow?). Friday night’s cold forced us to cancel the outreach on Friday night in downtown Fort Worth. Since Marv Plementosh of www.onemilliontracts.com was in town, we went down to Sundance Square for a brief visit with Stephen Starnes’ team. There weren’t many people on the streets, but we were still able to give out some tracts. Tim Crawford had some good one-to-ones outside of Jamba Juice. I also started working as a phone counselor with Need Him this week. I only signed on for a couple of hours, but was able to be of some assistance to some who called with prayer needs. In particular, pray for a young woman named Tresa who has been diagnosed with serious cancer and for her mother, Linda, who called. Need Him is not a prayer service, but Linda was clearly broken-hearted over her daughter’s physical condition. She is a professing Christian. For the rest of this report, I want to focus on some things some friends of TLC Ministries were able to do this weekend. TRE Train Stations\Dallas Mavericks Game:Ron Martinez went out on Saturday night and shares the following report, adapted from his blog. “This is probably one of the best outlets for “street” witnessing that I have found in this area. At least that is what I have begun to think. I have taken the train to the American Airlines Center in Dallas four times. Each of these four trips became witnessing events, and each trip was unique. The major factor that remained the same for these “train trips” has been the vast number of people attending the various events. The first event was a Promise Keepers spectacle, the second was a Van Halen concert, the third was Mardi Gras celebration, and the fourth, last night, was a Mavericks game.On my way over to Dallas last evening my plan was to just stay on the train to witness. NOT! As soon as I climbed onto the train to find a seat, I saw that most of the crowd was going to the Mavs game. Move to Plan B. I decided get off at Victory Station and witness at the American Airlines Center campus. Once I got off the train, I started handing out tracts. I made my way to the center court area just outside the Center. After about an hour and a half of handing out tracts I finally spoke to a couple teens and their father. This eventually lead to a conversation with a scalper who knew the Scriptures at least well enough for an understanding of the Gospel. Better than many at my church. I probed around his beliefs with several questions. I quickly came to understand one of the man’s sins, that he could not let go of, was scalping. I told him that it was against the law, but he already knew this. He justified his actions by stating that the Apostles ate the wheat while walking through the field. As John MacArthur would say “Are you kidding me!” Although it was a lengthy conversation, I think it was a good one. He followed me most of the way back to Victory Station until I told him I had to run to catch the train. I think his name is Jerome. At Victory Station I met another young man with a skate board. I asked him if he would like to have a tract. He started looking at it. I asked him if he attended church, but his answer was “no.” “Why not,” I asked? He said he was “just not into it anymore.” For brevity’s sake, I will have to cut much of the conversation details to a minimum. I asked him if I could explain the Gospel. He started to say, “No, I’m good.” I gently persisted and informed him that it would only take about 5 minutes. He relented. Praise God for open doors to do the work He has commanded us each to do. We have been commanded to seek and save the lost. My 5 minutes ended up lasting for approximately 30 minutes, yet there was a solid explanation of the Gospel and reasons why we do not need a pope for the forgiveness of our sins. Pray for Jeremy. He was open to the gospel. Now the Holy Spirit needs to work the miracle in his life. I thank the Lord who saved me from my blindness, deafness, and spiritual death to raise me up to life in Him alone. Jeremy will know of whom salvation is given.Thrash Band concert in Fort Worth:Steve, a friend of TLC Ministries, has a lot of friends who have thrash bands. He still goes to the concerts and hangs out there with the intention of handing out Mark Cahill’s book, “One Heartbeat Away” to his unsaved friends. Needless to say, this is a tough crowd but Steve has a real love for these folks since he was once in one of these bands. I’ve had the blessing of meeting Steve and love what the Lord is doing in his life. Here’s a portion of his email from his adventures sharing Christ this weekend at a concert in Fort Worth. This story is about his attempt to get a Mark Cahill book into the hands of a guy who had a hit with a hard rock glam band in the early 1990’s. “Saturday was pretty good. I had given away 2 of Mark’s books to friends but hadn’t given one to the guy I was telling you about. He’s like the center of attention and everyone wants to talk to him. In fact, after his band was done playing it was pushing 2 am or (3 am because of daylight savings) and I went up to him and introduced him to a guy I had met recently who was really wanting to meet him. But I didn’t get a chance to give him a book. So it was like 2:30 am and I had gone on the tour bus and waited for us to leave. Something told me to go back in the club and I put a book under my jacket. I went in and some friends were standing by the door and then this guy walks up to us and says goodbye and as he’s walking off I stopped him and gave him a book. He just took it and said, “Thanks.” I think he’s used to people giving him stuff. I said that I wanted him to read it and tell me what he thinks. He said that he would. Then I said, “It’s about Christ,” and he said that he’d find his way. This kinda bummed me, but at least I put it in his hand. I almost knew how it felt for Mark before he witnessed to Tiger Woods, on a much smaller scale of course.Another cool thing was that I had been wondering if anyone is reading Mark’s book when I give it to them. I talked to a wife of one of the guitarists who plays in one of the old thrash bands and she said she’d read about half of it and liked it. I told her to keep going.I got home at 5 am and was tired Sunday but at least I did something.” That’s right, Steve. You did something big; you got the gospel out to people who need to hear it. Praise God that He gave you the boldness to step out and share your faith! Thanks for allowing us to share your story on this update! Hopefully TLC Ministries will be able to come out with you to one of these concerts. Evangelism Resources:1. Sermon Audio’s FREE audio book for March is, “Confessions of the Reformed Church”. Enter the coupon code MAR2008 during checkout to get the free download. 2. You can download a FREE evangelistic e-book called “Hell is for Good People” here. My friend and former GNN Local Leader from Houston, Gene Keeth, has worked on this book for several years and has recently completed it. Custom Tract Source has created a tract which goes along with the book. 3. From Phil Johnson’s “Pyromaniac” blog we have a free edition of Al Mohler’s radio program and his interview with Phil. He’s styling it “Phil Johnson: Unplugged”. Good stuff. Evangelism Training Opportunities:1. March 29th, TLC Ministries will hold its first one day evangelism training seminar. The seminar will be held at the First Baptist Church in Justin, TX from 9:00AM to 3:00PM. You can get the address and mapquest the directions here. Please watch this update for more details in the weeks ahead. 2. June 11-15, 2008: TLC Ministries and OneMillionTracts.com will host an “Evangecamp” at beautiful Niagara Falls, NY. Come out for intensive “hands-on” training and practice of the principles of Way of the Master. We will do evangelism in downtown Buffalo, at a large art festival, and on the American and Canadian sides of the Falls. Learn more here.In Christ,

Jon Speed & Tim Crawford

Church Websites:

Countryside Bible Church

First Baptist Church of Justin, TX

Evangelism Quote:

“It may be otherwise; but you will be wise if you go into the ministry expecting not to find any very great assistance from the people in the work of soul-winning. Anticipate that you will have to do it yourself, and to do it alone…” –Charles Spurgeon in The Soul Winner, page 133

Evangelism Opportunities:

1. Thursday, March 6^th, 11:00AM-3:30PM: University of North Texas, Denton: TLC Ministries has reserved the free speech area at UNT for Thursday, near the Student Union and the statue of the eagle. Stephen Starnes and Pastor Ted Winton from First Baptist Church in Garner, TX will be joining us. We will be passing out tracts, engaging in one-to-ones, open-air preaching and will have the “Prayer Station” booth set up. If you would like to come, please let me know by email (jon@lostcauseministries.com) or call me on my cell at 972-310-7806.

2. Friday, March 7^th, 7:00-10:00PM: Sundance Square in Fort Worth. Marv Plementosh of One Million Tracts will be joining us for this outreach! We will meet at the CBC parking lot, pray, and then go to downtown Fort Worth (Sundance Square) We will pass out tracts, do one-to-one and open-air, Lord willing. If you would like to meet us there, we will be at the corner of Third and Houston at 7:30PM. Keep in mind that there is free parking in a parking garage on Calhoun Street. If you need directions, call me at 972-310-7806.

3. Saturday, March 15^th, 2:30PM—6:00PM: St. Patrick’s Day Parade\Cowtown Goes Green event at the Stockyards in Fort Worth. These Stockyard parades on East Exchange Street are perfect for doing evangelism; the crowds are friendly and they take tracts easily. We will be passing out Giant Money tracts from Living Waters. Meet at Countryside Bible Church at 2:30PM and we will carpool to the Stockyards. If you prefer to meet us there, go to www.fortworthstockyards.org for directions.

Evangelism Report:University of North Texas:There were a lot of conversations that we could mention here, but I’ll mention a couple of the more memorable ones. Stephanie approached the table between class changes and when Tim took her through the Good Person test, confessed that she was in the middle of an adulterous relationship with a married man who is twice her age. Tim reasoned with her from the Word and it was clear that her conscience was already at work. He shared the Gospel, loaded her up with tracts and she left. About an hour later she came back to say that she had already broken off the relationship! Pray that Stephanie will not only repent, but come to faith in Christ.

I spoke with a great guy named Cody. He is a professing atheist and a homosexual. I asked a lot of questions to get an idea of why he became an atheist and then asked him, theoretically, if there was a heaven, would he be good enough to go there? He thought so, so you know what happened. As we went through the Law, he actually blushed! I was able to share the whole Gospel with him and he was willing to take Cahill’s book, “One Heartbeat Away” and read it. He said, “I’m not going to convert anything, but I promise to read the book.” Pray that he does in fact read it and come to Christ.

I also spoke with a Quaker named Hannah. Hannah believes that everyone goes to Heaven in the end. She is not dogmatic about Christ being God or any of the foundational truths of Christianity. I went through the Law with her and she just got mad. I did not press the Gospel with her at all. It was clear that the Lord was not at work there.

During the open-airs, many Christians encouraged us about the outreach and were excited about the fact that we’ll be back each week on Thursdays. At the end of the day, one of the University’s administrators harrassed Tim about passing out tracts on the sidewalk apparently we need to stay on the grass in our free speech area. But we have put in for another permit for next week. Pray that the Christian students there will be mobilized to evangelize.

Sundance Square, Fort Worth:

On Friday night, a group of us from TLC went to Sundance Square to do some evangelism. We thank God for Ron Martinez and Samantha Speed who went out with us. When we got there, we met Stephen Starnes and Pastor Ted Winton, along with a group of believers who were passing out tracts and open-air preaching. It was great to see our friends again and to work together for the sake of the Gospel.

Tim had a good night witnessing one-to-one with several people. He had a great conversation with one of the bicycle buggy vendors. He also had a lengthy conversation with a wheel-chair bound man who was very resistant to the Gospel at first, but who softened considerably by the end. Ron had a good conversation with a Roman Catholic man who tried turning the tables on Ron and converting him! That didn’t go very far. Ron made it very clear that he was deceived and following a false Gospel.

Samantha had one of her best nights passing out tracts. She probably gave out 75 or so and was quite bold, which is unusual for her. I was proud of her, as I always am. She’s been faithful in street ministry for several years now, even though she’s only twelve and very introverted.

I passed out tracts as well and didn’t have any one-to-ones. I decided to do some open-air preaching and used Isaiah 64:6 as my springboard text. I used the Law to illustrate our complete lack of righteousness and had one passerby who took the “Good Person Test” during the open-air. He didn’t stop long enough to tell him the good news, but preached it anyway. Pray that the seeds planted will be watered by other faithful Christians.

Southlake Town Square:

On Saturday night, I met Ron and Caleb Martinez at the Southlake Town Square to reach the heathen in darkest Southlake. As I approached our meeting point, I could see that Ron and Caleb were busy talking with a couple seated on a bench. I walked past, looking for another brother whom I expected to meet (he couldn’t make it) and was stopped by a Muslim couple on a bench who asked me to take their picture.

I was glad to do it, and afterwards we started a very natural conversation. How are you, where are you from, what do you do? Hanni is a post-graduate political science student from Lebanon. His wife Rulah is also a post-graduate student. Hanni asked me what I did for a living and so I told him that I am a minister of the Gospel. This led into a conversation which lasted more than one hour about the key differences between Islam and Christianity.

Lately, the Lord has set up many divine appointments like this one. Rather than following “the script” from Way of the Master, I have been asking people about their beliefs and letting them answer. I try to ask clarifying questions, even if I think I know about their religion, because not everyone believes exactly like their dogma dictates. As we talk, and I find flaws in their thinking, I address the Gospel to those flaws.

In the course of conversation, we were able to discuss the Ten Commandments, Hanni’s violation of them, the character of Allah and the character of God, the atonement, justification by faith, the definition of faith, and much more. I need to get an mp3 recording device; this conversation would have been instructive for anyone who wants to know the difference between Islam and biblical Christianity.

Hanni said that he has many Christian friends who have witnessed to him and tried to get him to convert. He pointed out one of the biggest problems with the modern, man-centered Gospel. Many of his friends have said, “Try Jesus. He will give you peace and happiness.” Hanni said, “I don’t understand Christians. I am not poor and destitute. I am not living a miserable life. I am very happy and very fulfilled. I don’t need a better life.” These are damning words for those who push Christianity as a “Try it and see. It’s better than what you have now” philosophy.

He also pointed out the foolishness of some of the things we say to Muslims about the Trinity. He said that his Christian friends have tried using examples like water (ice, vapor, liquid) to prove the Trinity. To the Muslim mind, this is blasphemy! Comparing the creation to the Creator is an affront to the Creator’s holiness.

I don’t think that I had good answers for a lot of Hanni’s questions, biblically speaking. I did my best, with the Lord’s help. I finished the conversation because I needed to meet Ron and left him with my business card, which has a Gospel message on the back. I asked him to email me so I could try to answer some of his questions in a more thorough way. He agreed. Please pray that he does contact me and that we can continue the conversation.

In short, this was the best one-to-one with a Muslim I have had in a long time. I learned more about the Muslim faith and learned about flaws in our witness to them. I thank God for Hanni and his willingness to talk.

Evangelism Resources:

1. Check out this FREE 20 minute video about persecution of Christians who take a stand for their faith right here in America!

2. Check out the tracts at Custom Tract Source. This ministry will be co-sponsoring, with OneMillionTracts.com, one of TLC’s future Evangecamps.

3. Listen to a live stream of the Shepherd’s Conference this week (March 5-9) from Dr. John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church.

4. Listen to a great sermon compilation from John Piper “Dying is Gain”.

5. I’ve updated the Informed Evangelist blog with a great clip from the TV show ER illustrating the bankruptcy of the post-modern thinking advocated by the Emergent Church.

Evangelism Training Opportunities:1. March 29th, TLC Ministries will hold its first one day evangelism training seminar. The seminar will be held at the First Baptist Church in Justin, TX from 9:00AM to 3:00PM. You can get the address and mapquest the directions here. Please watch this update for more details in the weeks ahead. **Please note the date change.

2. June 11-15, 2008: TLC Ministries and OneMillionTracts.com will host an “Evangecamp” at beautiful Niagara Falls, NY. Come out for intensive “hands-on” training and practice of the principles of Way of the Master. We will do evangelism in downtown Buffalo, at a large art festival, and on the American and Canadian sides of the Falls. Learn more here.

In Christ,

Jon Speed & Tim Crawford

Church Websites:

Countryside Bible Church

First Baptist Church of Justin, TX