Evangelism Quote:

“This ministry gift (Eph. 4:11-13) of the apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor and teacher should be distinguished from the enduement for service bestowed upon the individual believer (1 Cor. 12: 4-31; Rom. 12:3-8). In the one case the servant of God who has been endued for ministry is Christ’s gift to the whole church; while in the other case a special enablement for service is given to the individual believer by the Sovereign Spirit, ‘as He will’.” –Lewis Sperry Chafer in True Evangelism (Philadelphia: Sunday School Times, 1925. Pages 5-6)

While we don’t agree with Chafer on several important points regarding the doctrine of salvation, he makes a very valid point here. The spiritual gift of evangelism, as the church generally conceives it, DOES NOT EXIST. It is a sort of “urban legend” in the American 20^th and 21^st Century church. You do not need the “gift” of evangelism to share the Gospel any more than you need a “gift” to feed starving children. You have the command.

Evangelism Opportunities:

1. Friday May 30-Sunday June 1: TLC Ministries has been approved for another evangelism booth at the KellerFest in Keller, TX! Once again, TLC will be providing the booth space, Gospel tracts, questionnaires, discipleship materials, and free water to volunteers. All you need to do is show up with a prepared heart and a willingness to share the Gospel!

Friday:

5-8PM: One slot open.

8-11PM: FULL.

Saturday:

10AM-1PM: One slot open.

1-4PM: One slot open.

4-7PM: FULL.

7-10:30PM: FULL.

Sunday:

1-4PM: FULL.

4-7PM: FULL.

If you can assist us with this festival, please email me at jon@lostcauseministries.com and let me know what times you are available. We praise the Lord for the 20 people who have signed up so far! Your help is indispensable!

3. Thursday June 5^th to Saturday, June 7^th: TLC Ministries will be working with TXARM at the Bombardier Lear Jet 550 doing literature distribution at the Texas Motor Speedway. More details TBA in our next update. This event will draw more than 100,000 Indy car fans to Justin, TX! If you would like to help, please email me at jon@lostcauseministries.com. There are many opportunities to serve and share Christ at this event!

Evangelism Report:Lower Greenville Avenue, Dallas:

On Friday night, we traveled to Greenville Avenue in Dallas to do some evangelism. This was our first time there, so this was a sort of scouting mission to see what the foot traffic flow looks like and if there are any locations to do open-air preaching. In addition to Tim Crawford and Jon Speed, Byron Porter and Chad Welty came along.

The night started slowly. We got there around 8:00PM and it was still quite slow. After taking a walk along the strip, we went back to a little pizza shop and sampled their wares. Me and Tim are chicken wing connoisseurs since we grew up near Buffalo, NY, the home of the Buffalo hot wing. Their sign said that they had the best wings in Dallas, so we took their challenge and have to agree: they are the best we’ve had in Texas. Their sauce is very, very close (if not identical) to authentic Buffalo chicken wing sauce. Buffalo Wild Wings is also very good (for a chain), but this place is authentic. The critics give it two thumbs up, but I don’t remember the name of the place. I’m a lousy critic.

A little after 9:00PM, we hit the streets and started doing one-to-ones. We started in front of the 7-11 while Tim procured some much needed breath-mints (after those rockin’ wings). Byron had a good one-to-one with a passerby there. As we made our way down the street I stopped to talk to a valet named Pedro. Pedro was very friendly and open to hear the Gospel since business was not busy yet (it apparently doesn’t get busy there until 10:00PM). He admitted to being a sinner after we went through the Ten Commandments together and clearly saw his need of a Savior. I began to explain the Gospel to him when a customer came up. I thought, “Oh no, this is the end of it. He’s got to go back to work.” But he jumped in the car, got my attention and signaled me with his hand to wait until he got back!

This gave me a chance to pray and think about what I had shared so far. I realized that I needed to talk more about justification by faith. Pedro is a former Catholic, although not practicing now. When he got back he smiled and said, “So, what were you saying?” I took him through 2 Corinthians 5:21 and explained the miracle of justification by faith. Pedro drank it all in, like a sponge. At the end of the conversation, he thanked me for taking the time to go out to Greenville Ave. and said that he was glad that there was a group of us there and that it is needed! It’s always ironic to me to hear that from someone who admits that they are unsaved while those who claim to be Christians actually oppose confrontational evangelism! Pray for Pedro, and pray for me (Jon) that I’ll have another chance to speak with him. I gave him my business card, which also has a Gospel message on the back.

I caught up with the guys and Tim was in the middle of a great one-to-two with a couple of college students from Taiwan. These guys had never heard of the Ten Commandments, and never heard of the Gospel! Tim had the privilege of sharing the Gospel with these Taiwanese students for the first time! This is why it is so important to do campus evangelism; so many students come from overseas where they have never heard the Gospel. They don’t get to hear that message in their home country, but they do here. The sad thing is that they also hear false gospels while they are here. Those of us with the truth need to work hard to get the real thing into their hands!

Further down the street, Chad and Tim spoke at length with several middle aged partiers. Me and Byron took up a post on the same corner passing out tracts to the passersby. As we did, a couple of college aged kids came up and started chatting with Byron. The one kid started complaining, saying, “Man, I come out here to get crazy drunk and forget and all I hear on this corner are all of these people talking about Jesus!” He came up to the people that Tim and Chad were talking to and he butted in and started complaining, when one of those folks started defending us saying, “Hey man, you don’t have the guts to do what these guys are doing! They are out here sharing what they believe and they really do believe it.” Again, even the lost recognize that confrontational evangelism works and is relevant. We didn’t have to take the time to develop a non-confrontational, no-strings attached relationship. All we had to do was speak up for Christ, ask them hard questions, listen to their answers and give them the truth!

I stopped at Taco Cabana to get a drink (soda, not alcohol) while Tim and Chad witnessed to some bikers (motorcycles, not ten speeds) in the parking lot. The sign at the register said “No bills larger than $20 accepted after 10PM.”. I asked the cashier about it and said, “So, I guess you won’t accept one of these?” and handed her the Million Dollar Bill tract. She laughed and called her co-workers over, and I was able to hand them all tracts. There’s nothing wrong with having a little fun when we’re sharing Christ. People remember when a Christian brightens their day and this brings glory to Christ.

We worked our way back down the street, passing out tracts to the people in line at the clubs, as well as the bouncers and valets. Most people accepted them and we had some good conversations.

Deep Ellum:

We went back to the truck and took a drive over to Deep Ellum to have a look. It is shocking. The place is deserted. Most of the clubs are shut down and there weren’t many people there at all. Back in 2004 when I first came to Dallas for a GNN boot camp, Deep Ellum had their streets blocked off and thousands of people streaming through the area. It was loaded with riot police at closing time (2:00AM) and was a violent, but popular place. It was a very immoral place with many prostitutes and partiers everywhere. Open-air preaching and one-to-one evangelists targeted that area as a hot spot for evangelism. There are still some who go there on Saturday nights. Praise the Lord, that den of iniquity is almost totally deserted.

Sometimes the people there would complain about the evangelists, but most were grateful to hear the message. Did the praying evangelists shut down Deep Ellum or was it the City Council? Or did God use the praying evangelists to influence the City Council?

West End Marketplace:

After that we drove through the West End. Readers of this blog know that we have tried going there several times over the last month or so, but it just is not busy enough to sustain a decent sized team. A couple of years ago, a GNN team leader named Jeff Rose, who led a team there for a couple of years, told me that West End was dying as a venue. Not because the Council was working to shut it down; it still has many restaurants and bars. People used to stream through there to party, but Jeff consistently brought a large team of believers who shared one-to-one and open-air preached there. The Lord used that team mightily and many people came to Christ right there on the street.

Now, the West End still has enough business to sustain the restaurants, but it is no longer booming with drunks and partiers. What happened? Did the praying street evangelists shut down West End? Or did demographics do it?

Ultimately, our Sovereign Lord did it in both cases. But He uses means. In the Sovereign plan of God, we believe that He used a bunch of nobodies to stem the tide of open immorality in the city which is host to one of the most influential evangelical seminaries and the most influential evangelical churches in America. Few of these “nobodies” had theological degrees; they all had a passion to share Christ in a simple and effective way. They did it without laser light shows, smoke and mirrors, or seeker sensitive messages. And somewhere along the way, the Sovereign Lord blessed the Word of God and their faithful presence on the streets and He changed things. Anyone who has witnessed the immorality which was rampant at these places probably would never have thought it would change. But the worst clubs in Deep Ellum have closed. Drunks no longer fill the streets in West End (at least on a regular basis).

The businesses which cater to the partiers in Sundance Square in Fort Worth have been so affected by the evangelists led by Stephen Starnes that at one point the Chamber of Commerce contacted GNN to meet with us regarding the adverse effect the preaching of the Gospel had on their businesses. The Lord Jesus is bad for the partying business.

Saints, we at TLC Ministries are turning our attention to Lower Greenville Avenue in Dallas to build a team there. We don’t intend on running it forever; we are looking for a few good men and women who will devote one night a week to taking the Gospel there. Our goal is not to shut the businesses down. Our goal is to prayerfully exalt Christ. If He is bad for business, then so be it. Once the team is running smoothly, we will turn it over to whoever the Lord seems to be raising up to lead that team. Our goal is not to be a ministry which oversees other ministries; we want to provide opportunities and be an impetus for ministries to spring up. If you live in Dallas and are interested in working the Greenville Avenue area mission field, please let me know at jon@lostcauseministries.com.

Women’s Jail Ministry in Seguin, TX:

No, Tim and I aren’t doing jail ministry in a women’s facility. This report comes from Juli Morrison, a reader of this blog and an active evangelist:

After an almost 6 month break, I’m back to doing jail ministry locally with the women incarcerated here in Seguin. I’ve been doing jail ministry for 3 years off and on in Seguin. Monday nights at 8:00 pm for anyone interested in joining me. You have to get clearance through the Guadalupe County Jail – contact me if you are interested in seeing God at work in these ladies’ lives.

What a blessing it was! Four women showed up for Bible study, and as they shared their stories of sin, sorrow, and shame, my heart was broken and I was weeping with them. I have never been so affected that deeply – and never before have ALL the women opened up so freely and quickly to share where they are at in their lives. What do you say to women who share with you their suicide attempts from the age of 6 until last year, their daughter being shot and killed and dying in their arms, three of four have lost parents suddenly the last year alone, one miscarriage, repeated stabbings by a boyfriend, shunning and mocking by family for their new “jailhouse faith”…and these were just the sins committed against them. I won’t go into what they personally confessed of their own sins. I was floored, convicted, and challenged all at the same time. And the love of Christ poured out of me for them.

What struck me is that I am equal to these women – I am just as much in need of God’s grace, and I have sinned just as greatly, and I have been in great bondage as well. But I did know something they didn’t know: the freedom we have from sin in Christ because of His shed blood – that was the GOOD NEWS I shared with these ladies and encouraged them to look to Christ for healing, forgiveness, and redemption! They readily received the Word as I encouraged them. What a blessing it was to share the good news – I am reminded of Isaiah 42: 6-7

“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, And will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.”

This is talking about JESUS! He is the one who sets captives free! And while these ladies are physically captive due to their sins, there are many who are spiritually captive due to their sins. We are to reach out to all who are captive in sin, in jail and out of jail, and bring the GOOD NEWS. May God grant us boldness with such news…

You can check out what Juli’s up to on her new blog.

Evangelism Resources:1. One of the readers of our blog put together a Godtube video of Todd Friel’s interview of Mark Cahill on Way of the Master Radio a couple of years ago. It’s an inspiring interview and it is FREE. Here is the link.

2. If you want to hear Mark Cahill speak, he is coming to a church in Wichita Falls, TX. Ray Comfort says that Mark Cahill is the only believer he knows that makes him feel lukewarm! I’ll be going to hear him with Steve Murphy, another reader of this blog. We’ll be going on Wednesday evening June 4^th. If you would like to ride along, please contact me at jon@lostcauseministries.com.

3. Todd Friel’s series on hermeneutics, “Herman Who?” can be viewed online here. This is vital as the errors of the modern Gospel, prosperity Gospel, Emergent Church, Seeker Sensitive Church, openness of God theology and new forms of Pelagianism continue to spread. Can you see the errors in the way they interpret Scripture? If not, this series will help you get started in hermeneutics.

4. If you are doing your own outreach and what an attractive banner to start conversations, here is the graphic from Marv Plementosh of One Million Tracts for the front of the popular “What If?” tract. You can blow this up and use it in street ministry and at festival booths. Here’s the link.

Evangelism Training Opportunities:

1. TLC Ministries, in cooperation with 91.3 KDKR, is doing another Way of the Master crash course at Mardel’s Christian Bookstore in Plano! On Saturday, May 31^st from 9:00AM-1:00PM we will teach the basics of biblical evangelism at Mardel’s. Learn the missing key in evangelism! Discover why so many professing Christians are dead on arrival! Practice some simple principles for starting and carrying out a conversation. Learn how to manage your fear!

Mardel’s is located at 2300 Coit Road, Suite #100. You can get directions here. Registration is FREE, but you must RSVP. To register, send an email to tim@lostcauseministries.com. Time is running out! Register today!

2. Come to the first Holy Epidemic Conference in the United States, to be held in Austin, TX on September 5-7! Holy Epidemic is a conference for Christians who are interested in learning more about street evangelism. The keynote speaker will be John Legg of Way of the Master, Australia\Holy Epidemic. Also speaking will be Jose Muniz, founder of The Jesus Crew and our own Jon Speed of TLC Ministries. One Million Tracts is also co-sponsoring this conference. To see last year’s promotional video and to see the details of this year’s conference, go to www.holyepidemic.com.

Evangelism Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray for all of the requests listed last week.

2. The salvation of Pedro.

3. The booth this weekend at KellerFest.

4. The evangelism seminar this weekend in Plano.

5. The establishment of a regular evangelism team in Lower Greenville Avenue, Dallas.

6. Wisdom in all of the decisions we have to make each day.

7. Tim’s Catholic neighbor, who he has been witnessing to on a regular basis.

In Christ,

Jon Speed & Tim Crawford

Church Websites:

Countryside Bible Church

First Baptist Church of Justin, TX

Welcome!

This week we welcome about 15 new recipients of our email update, mostly from First Baptist Church in Justin, TX! We’re glad you’re here!

TLC Ministries thanks Pastor Jason Sidler for his strong “plug” of the ministry this past Sunday during his sermon. We also thank the church as a whole for their strong support of our ministry; we were asked to set up an information table in the foyer, which was swamped with interested believers getting tract samples from www.onemilliontracts.com, business cards from TLC Ministries and One Million Tracts, and checking out our Power Point slide show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evangelism Quote:“A church that has made its peace with the world is incapable of changing it.” – Edwin LutzerEvangelism Opportunities:

1. Friday, May 23^rd: Evangelism at Dallas’ Lower Greenville Avenue. We will meet at the parking lots of Countryside Bible Church and First Baptist Church of Justin at 7:00PM and travel to Lower Greenville. Once we get there, we will pray, split up and do one-to-one and tracts throughout the area. Meeting location at the venue TBD.

2. Friday May 30-Sunday June 1: TLC Ministries has been approved for another evangelism booth at the KellerFest in Keller, TX! Once again, TLC will be providing the booth space, Gospel tracts, questionnaires, discipleship materials, and free water to volunteers. All you need to do is show up with a prepared heart and a willingness to share the Gospel!

Friday:

5-8PM: Three slots open.

8-11PM: Three slots open.

Saturday:

10AM-1PM: Three slots open.

1-4PM: Three slots open.

4-7PM: Three slots open.

7-10:30PM: Three slots open.

Sunday:

1-4PM: Three slots open.

4-7PM: Two slots open.

If you can assist us with this festival, please email me at jon@lostcauseministries.com and let me know what times you are available. We expect this festival to fill up quickly, so if you want to volunteer, please let me know ASAP.

3. Saturday, June 7^th: TLC Ministries will be working with TXARM at the Bombardier Lear Jet 550 doing literature distribution at the Texas Motor Speedway. More details TBA. This event will draw more than 100,000 Indy car fans to Justin, TX! If you would like to help, please email me at jon@lostcauseministries.com.

Evangelism\Discipleship Report:Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival, Richardson, TX:

I want to start by saying what a blessing each and every volunteer to this booth was for us at TLC. We had 17 volunteers representing at least nine different churches, including two students from Dallas Theological Seminary! Every single one exhibited the love of Christ, clarity in communicating the Gospel, and a strong familiarity with the Word of God. All of these traits were necessary at this festival because of the make-up of the crowd: many atheists, liberal Christians, post-moderns and homosexuals attend this event. Many of them were very rude in their rejection of the Gospel, which we expect, but this festival gets more of that kind of response than any other we do.

I used to coordinate festival booths at the Great News Network for a couple of years and can say with complete confidence that this group of volunteers was the most impressive in terms of their humble, servant-like quality. We give thanks to God for Scott & Rhonda Miller (who stayed later than expected on Friday night), Chris Diggs (who worked a whopping four shifts and closed the booth for us on Friday and Saturday nights), Jason Sides (his first booth), Jimmy Reesman (who also helped staff the table at FBC Justin on Sunday), Seth Bigelow (his first booth), Art de Leon (who worked two shifts and did extra time as well), Brian Bittiker, Hans (his first booth), Cody Walker, Byron Porter (his first booth), Paul Tosello, Ron Martinez (worked two shifts), Juan Santos, Marc Jonas, Richie Floyd (worked two shifts), and Rex George. We also thank God for Chad Welty who helped staff the table at FBC Justin on Sunday.

There are so many good stories of witnessing encounters at this event. I wish that space allowed me to touch on all of them, but we can only mention a few. Rhonda Miller had a busy night on Friday night and it seemed like she got some of the toughest cases. When I came back to the booth from meeting a volunteer at the gate, she was in the middle of a tough one-to-one with a homosexual couple. As I came up, she turned to me and said, “Jon, how old do you think the earth is?” I said, “6,000-10,000 years old” and that got me rolling in the conversation with this guy who admitted that he did not believe that because he did not believe in God (at least he was intellectually honest and did not say it had to do with scientific discoveries). His partner jumped in and asked me about the fossil record and asked how I could account for it. When I responded with “a global flood”, he mocked and said that carbon dating proved the age of these fossils. When I tried pointing out the grievous errors in carbon dating, he responded with, “Well, that’s what you Christians make up to have an argument.” He wouldn’t listen to the evidence: the carbon dating of hardened rock which came from Mount St. Helen’s, the astronomers who theorize a global flood on Mars because of erosion evidence and polar ice caps but who ignore the same evidence on Earth even though the planet is 80% covered with water, etc. They left and we were glad to let them go. You can’t reason with people who won’t listen to facts. And they clearly did not want to hear the Gospel either. This story illustrates the general attitude of many at the festival.

Tim Crawford had a good one-to-one with a lesbian couple on Sunday. It was sad because just as Tim was making some headway with one of them, the other literally pulled the other away from the booth, almost against her will. I have seen this same behavior from homosexuals on several occasions, both here and across the country. Just as you start to see some conviction and real interest in the Gospel, the bigger, stronger partner pulls the other one away. There are probably a lot of factors at work here: fear that the partner will convert, conscience and even demonic forces. But it is common and it is sad. They are not as “open-minded” as they would have society believe. And they are definitely not confident in their “lifestyle” when confronted with a loving, reasonable explanation of the Gospel. It is truly the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16), the partner senses that and runs from the light back into the darkness.

Marc Jonas did an excellent job witnessing to a die-hard evolutionist. He was patient, loving and persistent using apologetics as well as the Ten Commandments. After quite a bit of time he was able to share the Gospel with her and they left on good terms. I think she gave him her email address for further correspondence.

Tim had a good one-to-one with a dj named Mark from the big classic rock station in Dallas. He was very skeptical, a professing atheist, and he went from being somewhat combative to thanking Tim for the conversation at the end! He had a similar conversation with one of the event staff who came to the booth, saw our banner and said, “OK, I’ve gotten about three of these million dollar bills and now I have to ask. What is the million dollar question?” He was a lot like the DJ, but at the end he shook Tim’s hand and said, “Thanks for telling me this. I’ve never heard it explained that way before.”

On Saturday I had a pleasant discussion with the man who ran the booth next to us. They were selling Hindu and Buddhist art from Nepal. Shoshan, a Hindu man from Kathmandu, Nepal, had never heard of the Ten Commandments or the Gospel. I asked him a lot of questions about Hinduism and his own beliefs and he seemed to enjoy talking about them, answering my questions. I found an opening when he said that he had to be “good enough” to be reincarnated as a higher life form. He seemed genuinely appreciative to hear the Gospel. Pray for his salvation and for that of his family. His daughter came by our booth and also heard the Gospel.

Cody had the privilege of sharing the Gospel with a man who has terminal cancer. He knows he is going to die. Cody said that he had never sensed the importance of the message he was sharing as much as he did when he shared with this man. Pray that this man will repent before the cancer takes its ultimate toll.

This was also an event where we could water some seeds that had been planted. The Dallas Morning News had a booth at this event. Since we worked with the crew that ran that booth for six months last year and run into them from time to time at big events, we (me and Tim) spent some time hanging out at their booth, catching up. Tim witnessed to Brandon, Chris and Teddy. They also came by our booth and spoke to Art and Richie. Please pray for them to come to repentance. We love these guys and hope they come to Christ soon. Our former boss, Dominick, made a profession of faith on Easter Sunday and has been attending church since then.

We saw a traveling group of street performers from Jamaica called the “Calypso Tumblers.” They come to this festival every year and Tim has also seen them out in California at Venice Beach. They also performed last season for a time on the TV program “America’s Got Talent.” Tim shared the Gospel with the leader of the troupe a couple of years ago, so Tim decided to chat with him again and see if he remembered him. As Tim walked across the street, the leader called out, “Hey, man, are you still preaching Jesus?”! Needless to say, he remembered him.

This all is just the tip of the iceberg. If you haven’t been out with us, please try a festival booth. It’s the easiest way to learn how to do one-to-one. Even if you want to come and pray while others witness, we would love to have you there.

Email from Wildflower Attendee & Visitor to the Booth:

Here’s an encouraging email we received via www.yougotourtract.com. Thanks to Marv Plementosh for sending this along to us.

“I got your $1,000,000 at the Wildflower Festival, in Richardson, Texas. A friendly young lady asked me what will happen when I die. I replied, “I’ll go to heaven.” She asked if I have been good enough to get to heaven. I replied, “No, but Jesus paid for my sins.” Thank you for sharing Jesus’ message!” Evangelism Resources:

1. Want to do something special as a witness to your local police department? Why not buy them a case of “Take Up the Shield”, an evangelistic book written for police officers by former LAPD officer, and director of Way of the Master’s “Ambassador’s Academy”? Tony is also a former pastor and former student at The Master’s Seminary. Get more information about this project at www.takeuptheshield.com. 10% of all proceeds is donated to a fund designed to help officers in need.

2. Check out this “sermon jam” from Paul Washer. A great compilation on true revival. This is a powerful compilation, an absolutely “must listen.”

3. We highly recommend these “Round Tuits” for free souvenirs at festival booths. They are available from www.onemilliontracts.com. People love them.

4. Countryside Bible was blessed with an excellent sermon from Dr. Bruce Ware of Al Mohler’s Southern Seminary two weeks ago. It’s called “The Righteous Wrath of the Coming King”, a message on Psalm 2. You can give it a FREE listen here. Evangelism Training Opportunities:

1. TLC Ministries, in cooperation with 91.3 KDKR, is doing another Way of the Master crash course at Mardel’s Christian Bookstore in Plano! On Saturday, May 31^st from 9:00AM-1:00PM we will teach the basics of biblical evangelism at Mardel’s. Learn the missing key in evangelism! Discover why so many professing Christians are dead on arrival! Practice some simple principles for starting and carrying out a conversation. Learn how to manage your fear!

Mardel’s is located at 2300 Coit Road, Suite #100. You can get directions here. Registration is FREE, but you must RSVP. To register, send an email to tim@lostcauseministries.com.

2. Come to the first Holy Epidemic Conference in the United States, to be held in Austin, TX on September 5-7! Holy Epidemic is a conference for Christians who are interested in learning more about street evangelism. The keynote speaker will be John Legg of Way of the Master, Australia\Holy Epidemic. Also speaking will be Jose Muniz, founder of The Jesus Crew and our own Jon Speed of TLC Ministries. One Million Tracts is also co-sponsoring this conference. To see last year’s promotional video and to see the details of this year’s conference, go to www.holyepidemic.com.

TLC Ministries Prayer Requests:1. TLC Staff to manage time well; balancing ministry, church responsibilities, family, and a personal walk with Christ.

2. One-day Way of the Master Training course in Plano, TX on May 31.

3. Finalizing details of our first Evangecamp in Niagara Falls, NY.

4. Volunteers for the KellerFest May 30-June 1.

5. All of the seeds planted this past weekend at the Wildflower Festival.

6. Wisdom in doing outreach at a new venue; Lower Greenville Ave. in Dallas.

7. Discipleship and salvation of the guys at the Texas Youth Commission.

8. Tim’s discipleship group at First Baptist in Justin.

9. Jon’s home Bible study which will begin in June at Harriet Creek Ranch in Justin.

10. Salvation of the Dallas Morning News\CPU team that Jon and Tim used to work with.

11. Jon, as he studies Proverbs for a Sunday School class at Countryside Bible, and as he prepares five messages for two Holy Epidemic street evangelism conferences that will be held this fall (Austin, TX and Melbourne, Australia).

In Christ,

Jon Speed & Tim Crawford

Church Websites:

Countryside Bible Church

First Baptist Church of Justin, TX

 

 

Here are some pictures from this weekend’s outreach!

 

 

Evangelism Quote:

“We need preaching and teaching that has the heat of the sun in it. The moonlight ripens no harvest…There must be warmth before there can be life. Iceburgs do not produce offspring. Coldness is death in the spiritual as well as the physical world. I would rather follow a fool on fire than a scholar on ice.” –Robert G. Lee

Evangelism Opportunities:

1. Friday May 16-Sunday May 18^th: TLC Ministries has rented another evangelism booth at the Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival in Richardson, TX. This festival draws more than 60,000! We need volunteers to staff the booth over these three days!

The available time slots are:

Saturday: 2-5PM (one slot available), 5-8PM (one slot available)

Sunday: 1-4PM (three slots available), 4-6PM (one slot available)

So far, we have 16 people (not counting TLC Staff) signed up for this event! Praise the Lord! But we still need a little more help. Please contact me at jon@lostcauseministries.com if you can help!

3. Friday, May 23^rd: Evangelism at Dallas’ Lower Greenville Avenue. We will meet at the parking lots of Countryside Bible Church and First Baptist Church of Justin at 7:00PM and travel to Lower Greenville. Once we get there, we will pray, split up and do one-to-one and tracts throughout the area. The West End Marketplace is not busy enough to do regular evangelism on Friday nights.

4. Friday May 30-Sunday June 1: TLC Ministries has applied for another evangelism booth at the KellerFest in Keller, TX! More details on this event TBA, but please put it on your calendar. We witnessed at this event last year and it is an excellent event to evangelize. Last year the Mormons had a booth at this festival! Let’s not let the cults have the only voice at this event; let’s represent the TRUTH!

5. Saturday, June 7^th: TLC Ministries will be working with TXARM at the Bombardier Lear Jet 550 doing literature distribution at the Texas Motor Speedway. More details TBA. This event will draw more than 100,000 Indy car fans to Justin, TX! If you would like to help, please email me at jon@lostcauseministries.com.
Evangelism Report:West End Marketplace, Dallas:We give glory to God for an effective outreach last night in the West End Marketplace, Dallas. It was a fairly uneventful night in a sense we didn’t have large crowds to preach to, vicious hecklers, or people falling on their face in repentance. But Christ was exalted and that’s what really matters.

We thank God for Richie & Renee Floyd, Renee’s brother Rusty, his friend Ed, Chris Diggs and Jason. Rusty and Ed came up from Killeen. They are both Apache helicopter pilots who got back from Iraq back in January. Rusty has served two tours, but only came to Christ during his last tour. It was during that time that he understood true repentance and faith in Christ alone. The Lord graciously preserved him through an RPG attack where he lost his helicopter during his first tour. During his second tour two close friends flying other helicopters were killed, causing Rusty to consider his own mortality. In a short period of time, six helicopters were shot down, which was one of the worst streaks in Iraq, considering the short period of time. The Lord graciously used this time for the salvation of Rusty’s soul.

Rusty began holding Bible studies in his room and began to catch heat from his fellow soldiers. He didn’t care, and kept going for Christ. The Lord has been using him amongst the men as a testimony. They see his changed life they see living proof of the power of the Gospel to transform.

Rusty’s sister sent him Ray Comfort’s book, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” which he devoured and started applying. She also sent along Todd Friel’s “Herman Who?” and “Decisions, Decisions.” Again, he began applying these in his Bible studies and presented them to other soldiers. It was so encouraging to hear how the Lord is using Rusty when he is in Iraq. He expects to go back for his third tour next spring. Pray for Rusty and Ed as they walk the talk before their fellow soldiers.

Neither Rusty or Ed had ever passed out tracts before, but they weren’t shy about it. With a little instruction, they both did it and by the end of the night Rusty was doing one-to-ones with strangers, as was Ed. We all spent most of our time at the West End train station speaking to people who were waiting for trains. Chris had a good one-to-one with a Korean guy and gave him a Bible and some tracts. I overheard Ed taking someone through the commandments it was exciting to see his boldness and his own joy in sharing the Gospel.

I paired up with Jason, who is a new attendee at my church. Usually, when I’m teamed with a new guy, I do all of the work while the new guy prays and watches, which is fine by me. Not with Jason! Jason passed out tracts boldly and jumped in to one-to-ones with passion. He showed a lot of wisdom in the probing questions he asked. What a blessing to have a new guy who needs little training and just goes for it! We had a great time witnessing together and getting to know one another. There’s an instant bond we have with fellow believers who are passionate about evangelism.

Many tracts were given out and we had many conversations. The one that sticks out in my mind is the talk I had with a young man who freely admitted to not being good enough to go to Heaven and knew he broke God’s Law. Rather than reiterate that with the “Good Test”, I worked that into a sort of testimony format, applying the Law to myself and he agreed that he had done all of the same things. We talked about repentance and faith. When we got to faith, we talked about the object of that faith Jesus Christ, His person and work. We explained justification and I had him read 2 Cor. 5:21 from my Bible. He has more questions, so I gave him my business card and asked him to email me. He said he would. Pray for this (nameless) guy’s salvation.

All in all it was a blessed night of fellowship and witness. May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering.

Last Call Ministry Music Fest, Little Elm:TLC Ministries was invited by Carl & Lynda Noble of Last Call Ministries to speak evangelistically at their music festival in Little Elm on Sunday afternoon. Eight bands performed and in between sets, we had the opportunity to preach the Gospel to the attendees. Tim Crawford gave a basic Gospel presentation. I (Jon) gave a message on false conversion from 1 John 3, Galatians 5 and 1 Corinthians 6. Chad Welty gave a great message from Hebrews 12:1-2, geared mainly to the Christians in the audience.

The event started with a small crowd but grew as the day went on. Chad had the largest crowd since he spoke at the latest part of the day. Tim passed out some Million Dollar Bill tracts from OneMillionTracts. One guy from Denton approached me about finding a good local church where they preached the truth, so I was able to refer him to one. Many believers were encouraged by the messages and the lost and false converts were challenged, judging by their reactions.

Evangelism Resources:1. You can now get FREE expositional studies from John MacArthur here. The current series is the Book of Philemon. 2. Here is a great springboard illustration for witnessing or Open-Air:

A woman’s car broke down late one dark night in an unfamiliar area. She was afraid, so she wound the vehicle’s windows up tight, locked the doors, and turned on the car radio to keep her company. She decided that it would be wise to wait until the morning light before going for help.

A short time later a frantic man appeared at her window and began to yell at her. Frightened, she gestured for him to go away. He left and then returned seconds later with a rock in his hand, smashed the window of her car, and pulled her out, much to the woman’s horrified protests.

As they fell to the ground a massive train suddenly smashed into her car, causing it to burst into flames.

You may consider Christians to be raving lunatics, but all we are frantically trying to do is warn you that you are in terrible danger. The train of God’s moral Law is merciless. Your ignorance of the imminent peril doesn’t make it disappear. Please, soften your heart and listen to us before it’s too late. 3. And here is another recent news story about a father who died saving his little girl. He held his daughter away from an oncoming car which crushed the father, but spared the life of the daughter. While nothing compares to what Christ has done on the Cross for our sins, this illustration does give a good example of what love does in self-sacrifice.

Evangelism Training Opportunity:

TLC Ministries, in cooperation with 91.3 KDKR, is doing another Way of the Master crash course at Mardel’s Christian Bookstore in Plano! On Saturday, May 31^st from 9:00AM-1:00PM we will teach the basics of biblical evangelism at Mardel’s. Learn the missing key in evangelism! Discover why so many professing Christians are dead on arrival! Practice some simple principles for starting and carrying out a conversation. Learn how to manage your fear!

Mardel’s is located at 2300 Coit Road, Suite #100. You can get directions here. Registration is FREE, but you must RSVP. To register, send an email to tim@lostcauseministries.com.

TLC Ministry Prayer Requests:<!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>The growth of the men in Tim’s discipleship class.<!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>Fruit from the upcoming evangelistic Bible studies in the Speed’s home.<!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>Fruit from the remaining festivals in May: Wildflower and KellerFest.<!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>Final approval for the KellerFest. <!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>Upcoming one day seminar on May 31^st. <!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>Our first Evangecamp in Niagara Falls in June. <!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>The growth of N_____, a young man who professed Christ at TYC. <!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>The salvation of R_____, a guy who is counting the cost at TYC. <!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>Wisdom as doors of opportunity continue to open. <!–[if !supportLists]–>· <!–[endif]–>Lasting fruit from the Music Festival this past weekend. In Christ,

Jon Speed & Tim Crawford

Church Websites:

Countryside Bible Church

First Baptist Church of Justin, TX

Evangelism Quote: “A castle that has been long besieged and is ready to be taken will deliver up on any terms to save their lives. He whose heart has been a garrison for the devil and has held out long in opposition against Christ, when once God has brought him to poverty of spirit and he sees himself damned without Christ, let God propound what articles He may, he will readily subscribe to them. ‘Lord, what will you have me to do?’” –Thomas WatsonEvangelism Opportunities:

1. Friday June 20^th, 9:00PM—1:00AM Evangelism at Dallas’ Lower Greenville Avenue. If you are planning on coming, please notify either Tim Crawford (tim@lostcauseministries.com) or Jon Speed (jon@lostcauseministries.com) and they will organize carpooling. Once we get there, we will pray, split up and do one-to-one and tracts throughout the area. The meeting location will be at the Whole Foods Market parking lot at 2218 Greenville Avenue in Dallas. We’ll enjoy some good pizza\wings and fellowship and then hit the streets by 10:00PM. Greenville just gets started at 10:00PM and really starts getting busy at 11:00PM. If you need to meet up with us when you get in the neighborhood, call Jon’s cell phone at 972-310-7806.

2. Friday June 27^th, 9:00PM—1:00AM. Same details as #1 above.

3. Saturday June 28^th, 5:00PM—10:00PM. Celebrate Freedom event at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, TX. We’re not going in order to listen to the music (primarily); we’re going there to share the Gospel one-to-one with those we meet. There is much misunderstanding of the Gospel at these kinds of events and our goal is not to be a “protest presence”, but to get people who have poor understandings of the Gospel to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith (2 Cor. 13:5). We hope to use an interview format which can be used with ipods, video camera’s, mp3 recorders, etc. The event is FREE, but there will be a fee of $10-$15 for parking. If you would like to carpool, again, please contact Jon or Tim and let them know that you are coming.

4. Thursday, July 3^rd, 5:00PM—10:00PM. Independence Day & Fireworks Show at Southlake Town Square. The Square will be packed with thousands of people just hanging out, enjoying family activities, concerts, and waiting for the fireworks. We will go and share the Gospel in many ways; including tracts, one-to-one and open-air preaching. We will meet at the fountain behind Brio’s Restaurant at 5:00PM.

Evangelism\Discipleship Report:Sam’s 400 & Bombardier Learjet 550 at Texas Motor Speedway:TLC Ministries partnered with TXARM this past weekend to do evangelism at the races at TMS in Justin. After doing a NASCAR race here in April, this event seemed much smaller in comparison. The NASCAR races attract 200,000—250,000 fans. The Bombardier IndyCar race only attracted 83,000 fans; the lowest attendance for this race since TMS began hosting it. This is still a big event, but is not the week-long attraction that a NASCAR event is. That being said, it still attracted more fans than the average Dallas Cowboys football game, which is saying something in football-crazy Texas. On Friday I (Jon) went out to TMS and helped pass out TXARM schedules\Gospel tracts at Gate 4. I was there from about 3:30PM to about 6:30PM and it was HOT. It was also pretty slow since the race didn’t start until 8:00PM. Still, I was blessed to be able to pass out several hundred tracts. Tim Crawford showed up a little later and helped with the golf cart ministry; transporting the handicapped from the campgrounds to the Speedway. Tim was the ride-along and got to witness to the race fans as they rode. Chad Welty came a little later and when Tim finished with the golf carts, they stayed until the race started that evening and went through more than 1,000 tracts. I had to leave early from being fatigued. On Saturday, I went out to the Speedway a little later to avoid the worst of the heat. I got there around 5:00 and stayed until 7:00PM. The literature distribution team passed out all of the tracts that they had on hand; this crowd was much larger than what we dealt with the day before. I passed out another couple hundred of the NASCAR tracts from One Million Tracts; they went like hotcakes. I tried engaging people in one-to-ones, but it was so hot, that most did not even stop. And most wanted to get into the event. Pray that the Word of God found good soil in the hearts of those who received tracts, and for those that Tim spoke with. Stockyards, Fort Worth:On Friday after the race, Chad and Tim went down to the Stockyards in Fort Worth and had a great night doing tracts and one-to-one. Tim reports that the people there were very receptive; similar to what we experienced in Lower Greenville Avenue. The Stockyards have been virtually untouched in terms of public evangelism. There is a need for a regular evangelism team there. Who will go to this harvest field to work? The field is white unto harvest. Garner Baptist Church, Weatherford:On Sunday, the Speeds had the blessing of traveling out to Garner, TX, which is between Mineral Wells and Weatherford. Garner Baptist Church is pastored by Ted Winton. Jon preached the morning and evening services. In the morning, he preached on finding true peace with God from 2 Corinthians 5:20-21. This text touches on two important doctrines of the New Testament; reconciliation and justification. The Lord clearly blessed the preaching of His Word, judging from the response of the congregation. It blessed the preacher in the study and preparation time this past week. In the evening, I shared a message called “Taming the Lion: How to Manage Your Fear.” This is a God-centered message we preach when we do our one day evangelism crash courses. It focuses on the character of God and the obedience we owe to Him as remedies to overcoming our fear of witnessing. It is a challenging message to hear as well as to live. May the Lord grant grace to His unprofitable slave to live it as well as preach it. This is the second time that I have been able to preach at this church. Last year I preached a series of five messages during evangelistic meetings at this church. If your church (in the DFW area) needs pulpit supply, TLC Ministries would be glad to serve your church by providing a speaker. We do not have a set speaking fee and are glad to have the opportunity to minister the Word of God. Please contact us for more information. Tract Evangelism in Mexico:This story comes from Connie Petering, a member of Countryside Bible Church. The college and career group from CBC took a missions trip to Mexico in May. This is a story of their outreach there:I was one of twenty people who went down to Mexico during May 17-24. While we were there, we handed out several thousand tracts. One incident happened on Tuesday of the week we were down there. All of the ladies, Drew, I, Mr. Gibson and Mr. Wills our driver, piled into one of the vans and drove to an elementary school to hand out some tracts. When we arrived, we got into groups of two or three and each group covered a large area around the school before coming back to the vans. After I went with Megan F. around the school, I found Sandy by the box of tracts, so I alternated between handing out tracts to anyone around the four corners of the intersection and waiting for more people to come. Soon the doors of the school opened and I started handing out tracts to the first group of kids. A couple of minutes later the main rush of kids poured out of the school and as soon as they saw that we were handing something out, they headed towards me and the others from our group. I had a circle of kids around me all wanting the book of Romans and John as well as ten tracts stuck in an envelope. So I grabbed some books with the tracts in them and gave them out just as fast as I grabbed them! We went through the rest of the boxes we took with us. I’m still amazed when I think of the scene; being mobbed by the kids, all clamoring for the gift that we were handing out.
Later, I thought about that scene and examined myself to see if I am eagerly clamoring for God’s Word; spending time in it, hearing it taught, and living it out. That was a really neat experience for me.Amen! That is a neat experience. Praise the Lord for mission trips which don’t limit themselves to ministering to physical needs or solely within the four walls of a church, but actually go out to witness! Evangelism Resources:1. This is a brief essay I wrote on the efforts by the legislature and governor of Colorado to attack our Freedom of Religion and Free Speech rights by banning literature which “discriminates” against homosexuals. Their actions could effectively ban the distribution of the Bible! Check out the post called “Colorado Bill Potentially Bans the Circulation of the Bible.”

2. ChristianAudio is giving away a FREE audiobook this month! Simply add the download format of The Pilgrim’s Progress to your cart and then use the coupon code JUN2008 during checkout to receive your free download!

3. Here are some great samples of street evangelism from Melbourne, Australia. These clips come from my friend Pastor Lionel Letcher’s church, Cornerstone Gospel Church. Alex witnesses to two bar hoppers named Adrian and Trent. In the second clip, Alex witnesses to Dylan. Alex does a great job sharing the Gospel compassionately and in a straightforward manner.

4. Here is a great new The Law of God coin from One Million Tracts! Around the outside of the front of the coin (Law), “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them” (Gal. 3:10). The text on the back of the coin reads, “You will stand before God. He will judge all liars (Rev. 21:8), thieves (1 Cor. 6:9), and those who lust as adulterers (Mt. 5:28). Are you innocent or guilty? You can be considered right before God (2 Cor. 5:21) if you will repent (Acts 3:19) and trust Christ (Jn. 3:16). www.YouGotOurTract.com.” Around the outside of the coin on the back is printed Romans 5:8.

We feel that this is an improvement on the other 10 commandment coins out there since it conveys the doctrine of justification, expresses His love for sinners as expressed at the Cross, and points out that the commandments are God’s unwavering Law. We plan on using these coins at upcoming festival booth outreaches.

Evangelism Training Opportunities:1. Come to the first Holy Epidemic Conference in the United States, to be held in Austin, TX on September 5-7! Holy Epidemic is a conference for Christians who are interested in learning more about street evangelism. The keynote speaker will be John Legg of Way of the Master, Australia\Holy Epidemic. Also speaking will be Jose Muniz, founder of The Jesus Crew and our own Jon Speed of TLC Ministries. One Million Tracts is also co-sponsoring this conference. To see last year’s promotional video and to see the details of this year’s conference, go to www.holyepidemic.com.2. Consider attending the Deeper Conference in Woodstock, GA on October 17-18. Deeper is sponsored by Way of the Master. The featured speakers include Kirk Cameron, Ray Comfort, Paul Washer, Ken Ham and Pastor Johnny Hunt, among others. After the conference is over on Saturday the 18^th, a group of Christians from the conference will meet in Atlanta, GA to spread the Gospel. Transplant Ministries is spear-heading this effort called “The 500”. Lord willing, TLC Ministries will be assisting Transplant Ministries in organizing this outreach. You can find out more about the outreach and register at www.thefivehundred.org. TLC Speaking Engagements:1. August, TBA: Jon Speed will be speaking at the Agape Men’s Ministry Breakfast on the Scriptural teaching regarding false conversion. Afterwards, we will travel with the ministry to downtown Fort Worth, where we will help them with their homeless ministry. More details to be announced as the date approaches.

TLC Ministries Prayer Requests:We will be holding our first Evangecamp in Niagara Falls this week! These prayer requests are focused on this outreach:1. Safety as 20 campers from across the USA travel. 2. Safety as we travel around the Buffalo\Niagara area.3. Wednesday: Meet & greet at the hotel. 4. Thursday: Outreach in downtown Buffalo and at a concert in Lafayette Square (Buffalo).5. Friday: Outreach at Niagara Falls (Canadian and American sides). 6. Saturday: Outreach at Allentown Art Festival in Buffalo and the Canadian side of the Falls in the evening. 7. Sunday: Graduation, testimony time and traveling home. 8. Wisdom as we preach Christ to the varied nationalities and religions represented in Niagara. 9. Wisdom as we preach Christ to homosexuals and atheists at the art festival.10. Many “good soil” hearers of the Word. 11. That Christ will be exalted throughout the week. 12. A good turnout from local Christians on Saturday when we open the camp to local evangelism teams. We’re praying for another 10-15 participants on Saturday. In Christ,

Jon Speed & Tim Crawford

Church Websites:

Countryside Bible Church

First Baptist Church of Justin, TX

Evangelism Quote: “God is not looking for brilliant men, is not depending upon eloquent men, is not shut up to the use of talented men in sending His Gospel out in the world. God is looking for the broken men who have judged themselves in the light of the Cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men who have come to the end of themselves, whose confidence is not in themselves, but in God.” –H.A. Ironside

 

 

Evangelism Opportunities:

1. Friday, May 9^th: Evangelism at Dallas’ West End Marketplace. We will meet at the parking lots of Countryside Bible Church and First Baptist Church of Justin at 7:00PM and travel to the West End. Once we get there, we will pray, split up and do one-to-one and tracts throughout the area. We will do open-air in the area near the Spaghetti Warehouse.

2. Friday May 16-Sunday May 18^th: TLC Ministries has rented another evangelism booth at the Wildflower! Arts & Music Festival in Richardson, TX. This festival draws more than 60,000! We need volunteers to staff the booth over these three days!

The available time slots are:

Friday: 6-9PM, 9PM-Midnight

Saturday: 11AM-2PM, 2-5PM, 5-8PM, 8-Midnight

Sunday: 1-4PM, 4-6PM, 6-8PM

In other words, in total, we need either 27 separate volunteers or some volunteers who will do double shifts. Realistically, we need at least 20 volunteers so some people don’t get too burned out. Please contact me at jon@lostcauseministries.com if you can help!

3. Friday, May 23^rd: Evangelism at Dallas’ West End Marketplace. We will meet at the parking lots of Countryside Bible Church and First Baptist Church of Justin at 7:00PM and travel to the West End. Once we get there, we will pray, split up and do one-to-one and tracts throughout the area. We will do open-air in the area near the Spaghetti Warehouse.

4. Friday May 30-Sunday June 1: TLC Ministries has applied for another evangelism booth at the KellerFest in Keller, TX! More details on this event TBA, but please put it on your calendar. We witnessed at this event last year and it is an excellent event to evangelize. Last year the Mormons had a booth at this festival! Let’s not let the cults have the only voice at this event; let’s represent the TRUTH!

Evangelism Report:Cinco de Mayo Festival, Denton:

This past Saturday we had the opportunity to set up a booth at this great festival in Denton. When we were with The Great News Network we ran this booth in 2005 and 2006 and always had great opportunities to share Christ. This year’s festival was no exception.

We thank God for all of the volunteers who made this outreach possible! In addition to the TLC Staff, we were blessed with the help of Chad Welty, Gerry Amack, Chris Diggs, Jimmy Reesman, Kevin Wills, Kevin Brown, and Juan Santos and his niece (her name escapes me now). These volunteers represented several churches, including First Baptist Church of Justin, The Village Church, Countryside Bible Church and others. Additionally, a couple of godly women from Denton Bible Church who were at the festival passing out Giant Money tracts and making “wordless book” style necklaces for the kids, set up shop on the picnic table in front of our booth. They shared Christ with the kids as they made necklaces! Pat is from Scotland; we met her a couple of years ago at the Arts & Jazz Festival in Denton. Her faithfulness and testimony are powerful examples to us.

Overall, we gave out probably 1,000-1,500 tracts at this event and had dozens of great conversations with adults and children. This in spite of the fact that we were not even in the busiest part of the festival! At the end of the festival Tim Crawford took Jimmy, Kevin Wills and Juan to the busier section where they open-air preached several times. Juan open-aired for the first time and was used of the Lord in a powerful way! All that we will say about it is that it glorified Christ magnificently. We appreciate Juan’s sweet spirit and his love for the Lord and the lost.

Tim and Pat had a long talk with a recovering alcoholic named John. Watching Pat minister is a treat. The time she takes with each person and the love that she shares with each one is a model to emulate. So many who do evangelism use a “hit and run” approach which ignores the dignity of each person they speak with. We’re not salesmen selling a product, who use the law of averages to get past those who aren’t “buying” to those who might. We’re ministers of reconciliation, pleading with the lost to be reconciled unto God.

We do not have time or space to write about all of the great conversations. There were many. I do want to share the story of Jose. Jose (who is 40) and his family have only been living in the States for three months. They are originally from Mexico. Jose came over to the booth to get a Ten Commandment coin. I took him through some of the Ten Commandments and it was obvious that he was beginning to get convicted. His conscience bore witness that he was guilty before God. His eyes filled with tears and he stopped justifying himself; the Law of God did its work (Rom. 3:19). What a privilege to share Christ with a man who is broken! We swung to the Person and work of Christ and I explained justification by faith alone to him using 2 Corinthians 5:21. We talked about repentance and what true, biblical faith is. I spoke to him about the love of God from Romans 5:8-9. During this part his eyes not only continued to fill with tears, but his bottom lip started trembling.

He tried one more time to justify himself, saying although he had not been to church in years, he still believed in God and prayed to Him. I shared with him that those are good things, but that we must come to Christ on His terms and not ours. His terms are repentance and faith, not believing in God and praying once and awhile. Jose thanked me and shook my hand. He had to go find his family who had left while he was at the booth. I gave him a postcard with church information on it; a friend of mine has a church in Denton. Please pray that Jose will come to Christ and that he will start attending the church. Pray for the many others who heard the Gospel as well.

Oh saints, I cannot put into words how precious it is to be a simple earthen vessel sharing the treasure of Christ! I wish I had the ability to convey the power in a moment like that; I was overcome with the power of it and it took awhile to get over it. It was nothing special that I said beyond the latent power of the Word of God. Oh, how I wish that more Christians would awaken to their responsibility to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in! The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few! And yet the fields are WHITE unto harvest! They are ripe; harvest time is here! Oh saints of God, arise and put your armor on! Napoleon once pointed out England to his generals on a map and said, “There lies a sleeping giant.” How much more is the Church a sleeping giant! As Keith Green once sung, “The world is dying in the dark that the Church just can’t fight, because it’s asleep in the light!”

Many churches in Texas and elsewhere spend many thousands of dollars on mission trips to reach Mexicans, and yet the Mexicans who pour across our borders daily are left unreached in our own back yards! For the cost of a meal at McDonald’s (for a family of four) we can set up an evangelistic booth at this festival and reach hundreds of Mexicans with the Gospel! Expensive trips and luggage do not make missionaries. If we cannot take a few hours on a Saturday to share the Gospel with the Mexicans in our back yards, then what in the world makes us think that we have the right to travel to Mexico to tell them? This is not the spirit of the missionary endeavor.

Do we stop going to Mexico? By no means! But we must start thinking like missionaries where we live. None of the great missionaries started when they got on the fields that they are famous for reaching. They all started right where they lived. They sought out the lost in their home countries before they dared to venture overseas to do it. When did we lose sight of this?

May the Lord grant us grace to think and act rightly about the call to missions.

Seed Planted at a Funeral:

This report comes from Jose Muniz, founder of the Jesus Crew (Abilene, TX):

On Monday morning we attended the funeral of a young man that had been shot here in Abilene about a week and a half ago; it was very sad. He was only 19 years old, the same age of the young man that had been stabbed in San Antonio.As I was standing at the graveside service I noticed a man that kept looking at me. He looked very familiar. He kept getting closer to me as if he wanted to get a better view of me. I was thinking, “Why is this man coming closer?” As he got closer, I recognized him; it was Mr. Marcus (I had worked with him back in 1986. Believe it or not he himself had murdered a young man back in 1985 on north 1st Street by Burger King. He had also shot another teen point blank in the head). This is our conversation:Marcus: “Are you Jose?” Me: “Yes I am!”…….then he asked me a very important question…..Marcus: “Are you still preaching JESUS?”
Me: Of course I am. What else is there to do!Marcus: That’s really good to hear! And he gave me a big hug. We talked for about 15 minutes. He was sad at what had happened but he was very familiar with what had occurred. He had spent about 13 years locked up for committing murder and he was already out. He hadn’t yet repented for his crime even though he had paid the Great State of Texas by paying for his crime of murder being locked up. But his sin still remains to this day. I addressed the matter and he bowed his head. Then we talked some more:Marcus: What church do you go to?Me: Beltway……I gave him directionsMarcus: I’ll see you Sunday!Please pray for this man. I worked with him at Casa Ole’ back in 1986 till the day he went to prison. One day as I was prepping some food(I was a cook and he was a dishwasher) before I knew who he was, he walked up to me with a knife in his hand and said:Marcus: You smile to much! (with a frown on his face…he took the knife and cut my arm. At the time I had a bigger knife in my hand. The thought went through my mind to cut him back but I was a Christian and had to show him what following JESUS was all about.)Me: It’s because I’m living the Good Life!Marcus: What good life?!Me: A life surrendered to JESUS CHRIST!!!Marcus: (Expletive deleted) !!!That was our first meeting back in 1986. 22 years ago a seed was planted; now all these years later GOD gave me another opportunity to water the seed! Our prayer is that you take every chance you get to plant a seed. Evangelism Resources:

1. Here’s a great article titled, “Too Sinful to be Saved?” It’s a great article to share with someone who thinks that they are too far gone to be reached by God’s mercy. Here’s the link.

2. If you have friends in Australia, consider using the Gospel tracts from the Australian division of Way of the Master. Also, check out the new tracts from Josh Williamson’s “Operation 513”.

3. Here’s a sermon recently preached by Paul Washer in Atlanta called The Greatness of God.

Evangelism Training Opportunity:

TLC Ministries, in cooperation with 91.3 KDKR, is doing another Way of the Master crash course at Mardel’s Christian Bookstore in Plano! On Saturday, May 31^st from 9:00AM-1:00PM we will teach the basics of biblical evangelism at Mardel’s. Learn the missing key in evangelism! Discover why so many professing Christians are dead on arrival! Practice some simple principles for starting and carrying out a conversation. Learn how to manage your fear!

Mardel’s is located at 2300 Coit Road, Suite #100. You can get directions here. Registration is FREE, but you must RSVP. To register, send an email to tim@lostcauseministries.com.

In Christ,

Jon Speed & Tim Crawford

Church Websites:

Countryside Bible Church

First Baptist Church of Justin, TX

Here are some photos from the Cinco de Mayo Fest…