Archive for » November, 2008 «

Evangelism Update November 24, 2008

Evangelism Memory Verse:“Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” –Acts 3:19

Did you memorize last week’s verse? For a great aid for Scripture memorization, check out this FREE software here: www.memoryverses.org/smsw.shtml

Evangelism Quote:

“How many are there in our day, since the Gospel is grown so common, that catch up a notion of good things and from that notion make a profession of the name of Christ, get into churches, and obtain the title of brother, a saint, a member of the Gospel congregation, that have clean escaped repentance.” –John Bunyan

Evangelism Opportunities:

1. Tuesday November 25th, 10:30AM-2:30PM: TLC Ministries will be doing evangelism at the University of North Texas in Denton. We have reserved a free speech area on campus near the Student Union 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.

2. Friday night, November 28th, 5:00PM—9:00PM: Fort Worth Parade of Lights. TLC will meet promptly at 5:00PM on the corner of 3rd and Houston. Carpools will be leaving the Justin area at 4:15PM. To arrange carpooling, please contact Jon Speed at jon@lostcauseministries.com. We will pass out tracts, do one-to-ones and open-air preach. This is a great family friendly event; passing out tracts at a parade is like shooting fish in a barrel. If you are usually “put off” by street evangelism, this is a great chance to get your feet wet since it is so family friendly.

3. Tuesday December 2nd, 10:30AM-2:30PM: Details same as #1 above.

4. Thursday, December 4th 5:30-9:00PM: Denton Holiday Lighting Festival. TLC will be doing tract distribution, one-to-ones and open-air preaching at this Christmas event. To arrange carpooling, please contact Jon Speed at jon@lostcauseministries.com. We will meet in front of Recycled Books (corner of Locust and Hickory Streets on the square in Denton) promptly at 5:30PM. Carpools will leave the Justin area at 5:00PM.

5. Saturday, December 6th, 7:30PM—10:00PM: Evangelism after Texas Revival Series’ Mark Cahill event. Location TBD. Plan on coming out to hear Mark Cahill and then hit the streets with us! Register for the Cahill event for FREE here: www.TexasRevivalSeries.com. Evangelism Report:University of North Texas (Denton):This report comes from Tim Crawford…

We had another great outreach at UNT. Jon was in Australia preaching the Gospel so I went to UNT solo without my sidekick. I always get a bad case of the nerves when I head out alone to preach, but as usual God is faithful.

I was there for about 20 minutes when a kid name Patrick came up to me and asked if he could watch what I was doing and hang out. After speaking with him for a few minutes I knew that he was a believer and he told me he worked on campus for the Navigators. So I handed him a stack of tracts and put him to work. This was interesting for me and God reminded me “why we do what we do”. God allowed me a great opportunity to show him the importance of presenting the law before grace then preaching the Gospel. I was able to implement these principles to several students as he watched. It was awesome to see his face as the law broke through the hard hearts of several unbelievers. After about an hour of taking him through the scriptures, showing him the verses and implementing it on real people I think he was convinced. He was very appreciative and thanked me for taking time out to show him why and how to share the Gospel. When he left he said to me “Wow you certainly have given me a lot to think about”. Please pray for him.

I had some incredible one-to-ones with some interesting students. Please pray for Ali who is a Muslim and his friend Tom who was a Buddhist. They heard the complete Gospel and were clearly broken by the Law. I was able to give them tracts and my business card in hopes that they will call me in the near future. Two other kids that stuck out to me were Devin and Joshua. They were from Chicago and trying to sell magazine subscriptions for some rehab program. We talked for about 20 minutes and they both new they were in trouble on judgment day. It was a great discussion and the Holy Spirit was clearly breaking them. I pleaded with them and shared the good news with them that they could be forgiven and it seemed like it was well received, please pray for them as well that they to will be converted.

I met a professor at the campus today named Dan. He was very interested in the open-air preaching and the one-to-ones. I was able to give him some contact information, in hopes that he will join us in the near future for some outreaches. The more professors on board the better!!!

After all this I was greeted by another open air preacher named Thomas Sadowski. He stopped by to visit and was a great encouragement to me as well. It wasn’t long after he showed up that our friendly atheist Richard stopped back to talk. Please pray for him, he stops by almost every week and will talk for hours. Thomas decided it was time for him to open-air and we got some visitors doing a film project on free speech. They decided to film us doing one-to-ones and open air!!! Praise the Lord, whoever watches that video to grade his project will hear the gospel as well.

I was also interviewed by two young ladies named Heather and Jenni. They wanted to raise the awareness of sex in the media. I preached the gospel to them and then they asked “since we gave you our time can we have a few minutes of yours?” They were carrying a poster board with a bunch of scantly dressed women on it from Vogue magazine and Cosmopolitan type stuff. So I said, “Well I really don’t have anything to say other than I think that all that filth on your billboard is nothing more than executive level prostitution and porn!!!” They were like awesome!!! Can we interview you for our website because we think that as well!!! I was surprised and gladly accepted the interview. Turns out they were looking for someone like me who shared there same view and we pretty excited because almost everyone else they meet didn’t have a problem with it.

All said and done we had a great day at UNT!!! God does amazing things when we are obedient and available. Please go and share the Gospel with someone today and keep these dear folks in your prayers!!!

Holy Epidemic (Melbourne, Australia):

On the weekend of November 14-16 I had the privilege of speaking at the Holy Epidemic Conference in Frankston (VIC) near Melbourne, Australia. About 40 believers from around Australia came to get training in street evangelism. I spoke on the topics of “Taming the Lion: How to Manage Fear Biblically”, “Open-Air Basic Training”, “Combating Easy-Believism on the Streets” and “The Neglected Weapon of Our Warfare.” Pastor Lionel Letcher gave a two-part message called “Operation Mobilization: Principles for Establishing a Church Based Evangelism Team” and another message on “Obedience.” We finished with a Q&A session.

On Friday night a group of 14 went out to the nightclubs and did one-to-one with the clubbers. They had a good night of witnessing and many good conversations. On Saturday immediately after the conference, about 20 of us went down to the shopping district in Frankston and did some open-air, tracts, and some one-to-one. Phil McGibbony started the preaching off with a strong message on the Gospel. I followed him with a message on the reality and finality of death. While I was preaching, a drunk lesbian came running across the street from behind me (I did not see her coming) and she pushed me off of the stool. Out of instinct, I grabbed a hold of her arm and she thought that I was going to report her to the police. She began to apologize and asked me to forgive her, which I did. She responded with an expletive and went back across the street to her girlfriend and began kissing her. At that point I preached the Sovereignty of God saying that she could push me off of the stool, but no one can push God off of His throne. Of course, my Aussie brothers razzed me a bit for getting pushed off the stool by a GIRL, but I can justify it because she pushed me from behind.

Unbeknownst to me, there was a homosexual man yelling at me from the balcony. I heard him but did not see him, so Phil went up the stairs to the restaurant and had a very good one-to-one with him. This only goes to prove the point that a crowd size does not matter in the open-air because you never know who’s listening.

Lionel Letcher preached OA as well and managed to get a teenage heckler, who seemed at least a little interested, but his friends were a distraction in spite of very good efforts on the part of a group from Adelaide to share Christ with them. I also had some one-to-one with a few college aged kids, but one of them, a homosexual, was Gospel hardened and a former Bible college student.

On Sunday I had the privilege of preaching at Grace Community Bible Church in Endeavour Hills. The pastor-teacher there is John Baker, a graduate of Master’s Seminary. I preached on justification from 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 and our responsibility to proclaim this doctrine as evangelists. Christ was glorified throughout the service. It is always a tremendous blessing to worship with believers in other nations. I was also blessed to see my good friend Wesaam Saad and his wife Lydia. Wesaam was my co-leader at the Sydney boot camp back in 2006.

On Sunday night I preached at Cornerstone Gospel Church in Frankston (Lionel’s church). They have been doing a series of Sunday night services which are evangelistic in thrust, so I preached a short message from Rev. 20:11-15. Two young ladies whom the church’s evangelism team met in front of the night clubs came out and heard the Gospel. Please pray for their sound salvation.

After a day of fellowship with John Legg on Monday, I went back to Endeavour Hills to hear Zac Poonen, a pastor from India whose sermons have blessed me in the past. I was surprised to learn that he was in the area and grateful to have the chance to hear him in person with some of the folks from Cornerstone Gospel Church.

On Tuesday I spent much of the day wandering around the shopping district in Frankston doing some last minute shopping and passing out tracts as I went. Along the way I ran into Lionel who had just finished work for the day and we met later to do some open-air preaching in the outdoor mall area. Lionel started us off and passed out tracts as he preached. I preached on death being a stalker and how it’s only reasonable to consider the claims of the Gospel since death is inevitable. This resulted in a long one-to-one with a drug addict named Melinda and her boyfriend. She seemed to understand much of the Gospel, but still hung on to her own self-righteousness. Please pray that she will attend Cornerstone Gospel Church and learn more.

Combined with the one-to-ones I had on the planes to and from Australia, the trip was a success. Believers were equipped, the Gospel was spread and we had very good fellowship all around. Many thanks are due to John Legg for organizing the trip and conference, Lionel and Suzanne Letcher for their delicious meal on Tuesday night (especially the date pudding), and Chris & Jenny Sanford for their wonderful hospitality while I was in Frankston. It’s always a blessing to enjoy fellowship with godly believers and that was the case again here.

Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Australia. Only 5% attend any church regularly, according to a survey which is several years old. The poisons of the seeker sensitive movement and the Emergent Church movement have made significant in-roads, resulting in many false conversions. Those who are active in evangelism comprise a grass-roots movement. They are laboring faithfully without very much support and need our prayers. Pray for the spread of the truth in Australia, a culturally diverse nation.

The Passing of a Dear Friend

Last week we got the news that Jim Jones, founder of the Biblical evangelism internet message board, “Fishin’ Fools” and former GNN Local Leader was killed when he was struck by a truck as he rode his bicycle. Jim was a faithful evangelism team leader in Grants Pass, OR and a servant to all of us in the biblical evangelism community. He was 40 years old and leaves behind a wife and two daughters.

Jim served at several GNN evangelism boot camps as a team leader and was known as “Jimernet” for his ability to locate resources on the various message boards and websites. He helped many of us locate hard-to-find resources in pretty short notice. My last memory of serving with Jim in person goes back to the 2007 GNN Reignite camp when he preached at UNLV in Las Vegas. As always, Jim preached passionately and powerfully.

His funeral is in Grants Pass this coming weekend. If you would like to contribute to a matching fund (up to $500) which will go towards the financial support of Jim’s family, you can do so through One Million Tracts. Just make the check payable to “One Million Tracts” and put “Jim Jones” in the memo line. Checks can be sent to:

One Million Tracts
530 Elizabeth Drive
Owosso, MI 48867

You can read what Ray Comfort wrote about Jim’s passing here.

Evangelism Resources:

1. It’s not too early to start thinking about Christmas evangelism! Do you send out an annual Christmas card? If so, why not use that opportunity to include a tract and a fun Christmas quiz? Click the image to the left to see the tract from One Million Tracts. And click here to get a great FREE, reproducible Christmas quiz from Living Waters to print and send to your Christmas card list!

2. Here’s something to blow your mind from quantum physics. For some reason, electrons change their behavior simply because they are observed; when they are not, they act differently. There is no reasonable scientific explanation for this fact. This not only illustrates the inability of empirical science to answer every question, it also speaks to the existence of God. Check it out here.

3. The folks from Desiring God have come up with a way to use their 2008 catalog as a witnessing tool! Check it out here.

4. Check out this video clip of Bill O’Reilly interviewing Kirk Cameron regarding the recent homosexual uprisings in California against Christians exercising their free speech rights. Kirk also comments on his recent movie “Fireproof”. Check it out here.

5. Here is a great video clip of a ministry to Muslims and a live call-in they got from a Moroccan Muslim who comes to Christ but who has to count the cost as she does so. Powerful, powerful stuff. Watch it here.

6. November 25-27 is the Revival Conference in Greenrock, Scotland. My “other” blog, Informed Evangelist, is carrying the live webcast. Speakers include Keith Daniel, Carter Conlon, Al Whittinghill, Denny Kenaston, Don Courville, Gareth Evans, and others. You can watch this important event here.

7. Check out this creative website from our friend Anna Jackson. There are many great FREE Christmas resources here including recipes, crafts, music, and a Gospel presentation. Send this site to your friends and family members who need to know Jesus!

8. Here’s a great Way of the Master style radio show from Australia, the Impact Program which is hosted by members of Cornerstone Gospel Church. They play recordings of real one-to-ones, important sermons, and discuss issues related to Biblical evangelism. Check it out here (you can listen live or to the loop repeats).

9. Here’s a very good rap by Shai Linne that ends with a Gospel presentation. Check it here.

10. Check out this site which is put together by a couple of my Aussie friends. It’s called “Resources for Evangelism” and includes FREE downloadable tracts in languages from Afrikaans to Xhosa. Here’s the link.

Evangelism Training Opportunities:

1. The Texas Revival Series presents Mark Cahill! Mark is the author of “One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven”. He has shared the Gospel with celebrities like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Vanilla Ice, and Charles Barkley.

Join us for an evening of evangelistic motivation in Dallas, TX on Saturday December 6th! Afterwards, we’ll be taking it to the streets!

Schedule:

Saturday, December 6th (City Church International)

5-6PM: Session #1

6-7PM: Session #2

7:30-10:00PM: Outreach in Dallas, TX (location TBD)

Sunday, December 7th:

10:00AM: Mark Cahill speaks at City Church International worship service

6:00PM: Mark speaks at First Baptist Church Justin in the evening service.

Registration is FREE. If you can use some posters and\or postcards advertising the event at your local church or Christian bookstore, please contact Jon Speed at jon@lostcauseministries.com to get free copies of full color posters and invitational postcards. New Advertising Resource: Steve Murphy has compiled a FREE video advertisement for this event using the 30 second radio spot that KVTT 91.7 is using to advertise the event the week before. You can check it out here. Let’s make this thing “viral” and spread it around the internet! 2. Reduced Price! Reduced Price! Reduced Price! TLC Ministries is partnering with One Million Tracts and Sports Fan Outreach to do the Super Bowl Outreach in Tampa Bay, FL in January 29-February 1, 2009! Come to Tampa for intense, powerful Biblical evangelism at one of the best venues to do evangelism in the world! From personal experience, we can tell you this is a great opportunity to share Christ with the average Super Bowl fan, other partiers who attend the Super Bowl pre-game events, and celebrities. This outreach is now ONLY $225 (plus your own airfare\travel) and includes: two meals per day, lodging, evangelism speakers, travel throughout the Tampa area, formal and informal personal training, customized tracts designed especially for this event, a t-shirt, and a commemorative picture from the outreach. The following speakers have been confirmed for this event: Tony Miano (Living Waters\Ambassador’s Academy), Al Whittinghill (formerly of Precept Ministries and now of Ambassadors for Christ International, recommended by Kay Arthur, Steve Green, Johnny Hunt, Leonard Ravenhill, Richard Owen Roberts, Ravi Zacharias, Vance Havner, Larry Burkett and others) , Dr. Elias Medeiros (professor of Missions at Reformed Theological Seminary) and Andy Lapins (Transfired Ministries). 3. Here comes another great seminar opportunity! On February 19-22, Anchored in Truth Ministries will host the “Wonderful Grace of Repentance” conference in Muscle Shoals, AL. Guest speakers include Voddie Baucham, Conrad Mbewe (the Spurgeon of Africa), David Miller, Jonathan Sims, Paul Washer, and Jeff Noblit. Prayer Update:

1. Pray for all those who heard the Gospel at UNT.

2. Pray for Ron and Jon as they prepare for upcoming court appearances on July 30, 2009. Pray for the CLA as they prepare the cases.

3. Pray for the upcoming outreaches.

4. Prayerfully consider attending the Super Bowl Outreach in Tampa Bay in early 2009.

5. Pray that the staff of TLC will grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

6. Pray for the financial situation of TLC Ministries. We are beginning to raise support for the time when our salaries are cut by 33% on January 1st. We are confident that the Lord will continue to provide.

7. Pray for the salvation of a UNT student who is a former agnostic but who has been reading Mark Cahill’s book, “One Heartbeat Away”. This student has been asking some great questions by email and seems to be very close to repenting and believing. Pray for good soil in this student’s heart!

8. Pray for a strong attendance at the Mark Cahill event on December 6th-7th.

9. Pray for those who heard the Gospel in Australia, and continue to hear it, because of the efforts of faithful believers there.

 

Evangelism Update November 10, 2008

Evangelism Memory Verse:“Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.” –Romans 2:15

Did you memorize last week’s verse? For a great aid for Scripture memorization, check out this FREE software here: www.memoryverses.org/smsw.shtml

Evangelism Quote: “The damned shall live as long in Hell as God Himself shall live in Heaven.” –Thomas Brooks

 

 

 

Evangelism Opportunities:

1. Thursday November 13th, 10:30AM-2:30PM: TLC Ministries will be doing evangelism at the University of North Texas in Denton. We have reserved a free speech area on campus near the Student Union and will pass out tracts, do one-to-one and open-air preach. We will be in Free Speech Area A, in front of the Student Union, near the bus stop. You can find directions to the campus at www.unt.edu. If you would like to join us, please let me know.

2. Friday night, November 14th, 7:00PM—10:00PM: TLC Ministries will be doing evangelism at the Southlake Town Square. We will meet in the plaza behind Brio’s Restaurant at 7:00PM. The contact for this outreach is Tim Crawford. You can reach Tim at tim@lostcauseministries.com. Evangelism Report:University of North Texas (Denton):On Tuesday, Tim Crawford, Juan Santos, Isaac, Jeff Clayton and Jason Sides all went to the campus of UNT and preached the Gospel. We praise the Lord for a strong turn-out for this mid-week outreach. Juan preached for the first time on a college campus, and the Lord blessed the preaching. Tim preached as well. Many tracts were distributed, and many one-to-one conversations broke out. Please pray for continued fruit on this campus.

I’ve been continuing an email correspondence with a student who is very open to the Gospel. Please pray that the Lord will take His truth and impress it deeply on her heart. She’s been invited to hear Mark Cahill in December; please pray that she will attend because she has been reading his book, “One Heartbeat Away” and has had many questions.

Keith Daniel Meetings (Mabank, TX):

This past weekend, TLC Ministries took a break from laboring in the mission field of the Bible belt and spent the weekend in Mabank, TX at Central Baptist Church listening to Brother Keith Daniel. The Lord used Brother Daniel to bring me to salvation about five years ago when he was preaching at a church in western New York State. Keith brought a message on Friday night on handling tribulation. On Saturday night he preached on the theme of “Die Climbing”. And on Sunday he preached a message on Romans 1.

The Speed family, the Crawfords, the Martinez family, the Weltys, the Reesmans, and Jeff Pittman all came out to listen to the messages at various times throughout the weekend. All were blessed.

I had a chance to chat with Keith for a few moments on Sunday afternoon; what a blessing to share that brief time. Please pray for Keith this week as he ministers at the Little White Church in Conklin, NY. My uncle used to be an intern pastor there when he started out in ministry and a friend from my Bible college days was a youth pastor there for several years. Pray that the Lord would truly revive that work.

Evangelism Resources:1. You may have noticed that Way of the Master Radio is not playing locally anymore. Please consider signing a petition to bring back Way of the Master Radio to 91.3 and 91.7. The petition is co-sponsored by Fish with Trish, Sovereign Joy Community Church and The Lost Cause Ministries. TLC, Sovereign Joy or Fish with Trish do not make any money on this petition. Here is the link. 2. It’s not too early to start thinking about Christmas evangelism! Do you send out an annual Christmas card? If so, why not use that opportunity to include a tract and a fun Christmas quiz? Click the image to the left to see the tract from One Million Tracts. And click here to get a great FREE, reproducible Christmas quiz from Living Waters to print and send to your Christmas card list!

3. Check out this 90 minute TV interview originally aired in the United Kingdom on open-air preaching. Cameron Buettel and Rob Hughes were interviewed. Watch it here.

4. Here is an interesting free video interview of Paul Washer from the Christian Research Network.

5. This is definitely worth reading. It’s a great blog article from Slice of Laodicea called “Wanted: An Old Fashioned Church.

6. November 25-27 is the Revival Conference in Greenrock, Scotland. My “other” blog, Informed Evangelist, is carrying the live webcast. Speakers include Keith Daniel, Carter Conlon, Al Whittinghill, Denny Kenaston, Don Courville, Gareth Evans, and others. You can watch this important event here.

Speaking Engagements:

1. While Jon is in Australia this week he will be preaching at the following churches near Melbourne on Sunday November 16th. Cornerstone Gospel Church in Frankston, during the evening service, which is an evangelistic service. Grace Community Bible Church in Endeavour Hills, during the morning worship service. Of course, he is also the keynote speaker at the Holy Epidemic Conference because he traveled the longest distance to get there (an important qualification for any keynote speaker). Pray for his strength as the schedule is packed (there will be a late night outreach scheduled on Saturday night in downtown Melbourne) and the trip is exhausting.

Evangelism Training Opportunities:

1. The Texas Revival Series presents Mark Cahill! Mark is the author of “One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven”. He has shared the Gospel with celebrities like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Vanilla Ice, and Charles Barclay.

Join us for an evening of evangelistic motivation in Dallas, TX on Saturday December 6th! Afterwards, we’ll be taking it to the streets!

Schedule:

Saturday, December 6th (City Church International)

5-6PM: Session #1

6-7PM: Session #2

7:30-10:00PM: Outreach in Dallas, TX (location TBD)

Sunday, December 7th:

10:00AM: Mark Cahill speaks at City Church International worship service

6:00PM: Mark speaks at First Baptist Church Justin in the evening service.

Registration will be FREE. Please register TODAY at www.TexasRevivalSeries.com.

If you can use some posters and\or postcards advertising the event at your local church or Christian bookstore, please contact Tim Crawford at tim@lostcauseministries.com to get free copies of full color posters and invitational postcards.

Posters can be downloaded for FREE here as well.

2. Reduced Price! Reduced Price! Reduced Price! TLC Ministries is partnering with One Million Tracts and Sports Fan Outreach to do the Super Bowl Outreach in Tampa Bay, FL in January 29-February 1, 2009! Come to Tampa for intense, powerful Biblical evangelism at one of the best venues to do evangelism in the world! From personal experience, we can tell you this is a great opportunity to share Christ with the average Super Bowl fan, other partiers who attend the Super Bowl pre-game events, and celebrities. This outreach is now ONLY $225 (plus your own airfare\travel) and includes: two meals per day, lodging, evangelism speakers, travel throughout the Tampa area, formal and informal personal training, customized tracts designed especially for this event, a t-shirt, and a commemorative picture from the outreach. The following speakers have been confirmed for this event: Tony Miano (Living Waters\Ambassador’s Academy), Al Whittinghill (formerly of Precept Ministries and now of Ambassadors for Christ International, recommended by Kay Arthur, Steve Green, Johnny Hunt, Leonard Ravenhill, Richard Owen Roberts, Ravi Zacharias, Vance Havner, Larry Burkett and others) , Dr. Elias Medeiros (professor of Missions at Reformed Theological Seminary) and Andy Lapins (Transfired Ministries). 3. Here comes another great seminar opportunity! On February 19-22, Anchored in Truth Ministries will host the “Wonderful Grace of Repentance” conference in Muscle Shoals, AL. Guest speakers include Voddie Baucham, Conrad Mbewe (the Spurgeon of Africa), David Miller, Jonathan Sims, Paul Washer, and Jeff Noblit. Prayer Update:

1. Pray for all those who heard the Gospel at UNT this week.

2. Pray for Ron and Jon as they prepare for upcoming court appearances on July 30, 2009. Pray for the CLA as they prepare the cases.

3. Pray for the upcoming outreaches.

4. Prayerfully consider attending the Super Bowl Outreach in Tampa Bay in early 2009.

5. Pray that the staff of TLC will grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

6. Pray for the financial situation of TLC Ministries. We are beginning to raise support for the time when our salaries are cut by 33% on January 1st. We are confident that the Lord will continue to provide.

7. Pray for the salvation of a UNT student who is a former agnostic but who has been reading Mark Cahill’s book, “One Heartbeat Away”. This student has been asking some great questions by email and seems to be very close to repenting and believing. Pray for good soil in this student’s heart!

8. Pray for Jon as he finishes preparing messages for his upcoming trip to Melbourne, Australia. He leaves on November 11th and returns on the 18th.

9. Pray for a strong attendance at the Mark Cahill event on December 6th-7th.

10. Pray for Mike Gendron this week as he travels to Central America to train some pastors in evangelism to Roman Catholics.

 

Evangelism Update November 3, 2008

Evangelism Memory Verse:

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:15

Did you memorize last week’s verse? For a great aid for Scripture memorization, check out this FREE software here: www.memoryverses.org/smsw.shtml

Evangelism Quote:

“God examineth with trials, the devil examineth with temptations, the world examineth with persecutions.” –Henry Smith

Evangelism Opportunities:

1. Tuesday November 4th, 10:30AM-2:30PM: TLC Ministries will be doing evangelism at the University of North Texas in Denton. We have reserved a free speech area on campus near the Student Union and will pass out tracts, do one-to-one and open-air preach. We will be in Free Speech Area C, adjacent to the Student Union, near the Eagle statue. You can find directions to the campus at www.unt.edu. If you would like to join us, please let me know.

2. Rather than doing a weekend outreach this weekend we are encouraging everyone to come hear Brother Keith Daniel in Mabank, TX. Let’s take some time away from ministry and be refreshed in the Word of God. We can witness in and around Mabank. Central Baptist Church of Mabank is sponsoring the event. The contact is Tony Yardley (214-226-7878). The Speeds will be camping at a nearby State Park (Purtis Creek State Park, reservation line is 512-389-8900). If you cannot camp, the meeting times are Friday (Nov. 7th) at 7:00PM, Saturday (Nov. 8th) at 7:00PM and Sunday (Nov. 9th) at 10:00AM. Evangelism Report:Youth Detention Center:

On Monday night I joined Ernie Black and Joe Todd of Countryside Bible Church at a local youth detention center for the weekly Bible study. It was a good night of study, with about seven young guys in attendance. The guys tried distracting from the lesson by asking a lot of rambling questions that they didn’t really want the answers to. However Joe did a good job of bringing the issues in focus and showing the guys that they weren’t displaying a teachable attitude to the Scriptures. Please pray for the guys who come each week, that they will be teachable and that new guys will come out as well.

Halloween:We hope that you took full advantage of the opportunity to evangelize your neighborhood on Halloween. Our experiences were great, and we thank God that He gives us an opportunity to take what Satan intends for evil and turn it to good.

At the Speed home in Justin, we passed out about 140 Million Dollar Bill tracts with a full sized Snickers bar. Our count was a little low this year due to the fact that the Texas Motor Speedway invited the community in to the track for trick-or-treating amongst the vendors. We had bought almost 200 candy bars based on last year’s count, so now our chocolate-holic son has enough supply to carry him through until Christmas.

The Crawfords attended the family night at FBC Justin on Friday night. Tim used the opportunity to share the Gospel with several from the community who attended the event. Saints, the local church is a wonderful place to evangelize; don’t miss the opportunity that is there each week. When visitors come to church, why not hand them a tract or engage them in a purposeful witnessing conversation? R.A. Torrey included a chapter on sharing the Gospel at church in one of his books on evangelism. Paul Washer says that the local church is the greatest field for evangelistic work. Don’t let visitors come to your church without getting a personal explanation of the Gospel. Don’t assume that they are saved because they are in your church building.

NASCAR Week at Texas Motor Speedway:

Twice a year, when NASCAR comes to town, the town of Justin goes from being a small town with a few suburban developments to a booming city when 250,000 NASCAR fans come to town. Of course, the Indy car race draws a crowd, but nothing like NASCAR. TLC Ministries partners with TXARM to distribute Gospel tracts at the Speedway.

Although Texas Motor Speedway is private property, we have permission to be there because TXARM has established a presence there and provides real service to TMS and the fans. TXARM provides chapel services, chaplaincy for the racers and their families, children’s activities for the families of those camping at the track, handicap transportation to the gates from the campgrounds, staffing information booths, a hospitality tent in the campground, and much more. In return for their services, TXARM is allowed to pass out their schedule of ministry events at each gate.

TLC encourages all of the readers of this update to get involved with TXARM. If straight up evangelism is not your thing, TXARM provides many ways to serve no matter what your talents are. How often do 250,000 people come to one place for anything? This is a golden opportunity to do real ministry amongst the lost

Friday:

On Friday afternoon I went over to the Speedway to do some literature distribution for a couple of hours. My time there this time was limited due to my workload, but it was a blast to be there passing out literature as fans came to watch the qualifying heats. After I signed in, I was assigned a golf cart and radio and drove over to Gate 4 with a box of ministry schedules (which also have a tract printed on the inside). In the two hours that I was there, I think about 500-600 schedules were given out, maybe more. Passing these out is the evangelistic equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. Some fans actually look for us at each race so they can get the ministry schedule! Others who know who we are, encourage us, and thank us for the ministry of TXARM. Praise the Lord for the respect that TXARM has at TMS.

Saturday:

On Saturday afternoon, before the O’Reilly race, myself, Tim Crawford, Ron and Caleb Martinez went out to pass out more literature. Once again, it was easy. We went through the literature quickly, but we had a plan B. We had about 1,000 NASCAR tracts from www.onemilliontracts.com which had been pre-approved by TXARM for distribution. We went through all of the rest of our tracts very quickly (the NASCAR tracts go like hotcakes).

Tim had a great one-to-one with a couple of guys named Mike and Eric. They were extremely receptive to the Gospel; so much so that they invited Tim in to the race and gave him a ticket! After discussing it, Tim decided to take them up on it. It was an opportunity to chat during breaks in the action and it showed them that he truly cared about them and wasn’t there just to put an evangelistic notch in his belt.

Saints, this is true friendship evangelism! You don’t have to wait to establish a friendship to share the Gospel. Share the Gospel and then develop a friendship. At that point, the context is developed to ask more questions and see the Gospel lived out! This is clearly how friendship evangelism was done in the New Testament. The people that Christ and the apostles met in the course of their public proclamation became their friends, where they had even more opportunity to live and teach the Gospel! Mike and Eric have Tim’s phone number. Please pray that they will have “good soil” hearts and that they will call with more questions.

Sunday:

On Sunday morning, I had to teach adult Sunday School at Countryside Bible, so I couldn’t get to the track as early as I would have otherwise. It was good to minister the Word of God to the saints. We studied Isaiah 49-57 and studied the Servant of the Lord in that passage. It is an amazing passage of Scripture and full of New Testament truth.

I made it out to the track at about 12:30PM and met Ron and Caleb there. Ron participated in the handicap transport ministry. He was a “ride along” whose job is to share the Gospel with those who are getting a ride to the gates. Caleb and I went to Gate Four and passed out the schedules. We went through all of the schedules in about an hour and resorted to Plan B again, and passed out NASCAR tracts. Sunday is the busiest day, the day of the big race (Dickies 500) and passing out literature is challenging because it’s hard to keep up! In two hours, we probably passed out about 1,000 tracts (just me and Caleb), maybe more.

Ron stopped in briefly in between trips to let us know that it was going very well on the cart. He had some great opportunities to share Christ with riders.

Praise the Lord with us for this opportunity to do “mass evangelism”.

Evangelism Resources:1. You may have noticed that Way of the Master Radio is not playing locally anymore. Please consider signing a petition to bring back Way of the Master Radio to 91.3 and 91.7. The petition is co-sponsored by Fish with Trish, Sovereign Joy Community Church and The Lost Cause Ministries. TLC, Sovereign Joy or Fish with Trish do not make any money on this petition. Here is the link. 2. It’s not too early to start thinking about Christmas evangelism! Do you send out an annual Christmas card? If so, why not use that opportunity to include a tract and a fun Christmas quiz? Click the image to the left to see the tract from One Million Tracts. And click here to get a great FREE, reproducible Christmas quiz from Living Waters to print and send to your Christmas card list!

3. You can track what’s happening with Way of the Master Season 4 here. In season 4, the WoTM gang travels across Europe, hitting 13 countries in 13 days! They open-air preach and witness as they go.

4. Here’s a great idea for evangelizing your neighborhood HOA from Trish Ramos.

5. Check out this FREE video clip of John Piper talking about money in a recent Q&A session. This is an important perspective on money and its right use. May God give us grace to embrace it and DO it, not merely admire Piper’s position.

6. Here is a FREE audiobook from Christianaudio.com! It is Calvin: Of Prayer and the Christian Life. Prayer as Calvin describes it is not giddy, and he goes on to give Scriptural definitions of proper thought, engagement, and attitude. What do the roles of patience and self-denial play in the role of the Christian life and what does Christian piety look like? What should our views be of the present life and the future life? These two sections of The Institutes guide us ever so thoughtfully and gracefully into his theology and practice of Christian living. Just use the coupon code NOV2008 during checkout. Add the download format of Calvin: Of Prayer and The Christian Life to your cart and then enter the coupon code NOV2008 when prompted during checkout.” 7. Beginning Wednesday, November 5th Grace to You is now offering all of John MacArthur’s sermon downloads for FREE! That’s a total of 3500 sermons for free, no strings attached. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition! 8. Download Paul Washer’s “Journey into the Gospel with Friends”, chapters one and two, for FREE here. Speaking Engagements:

1. While Jon is in Australia next month he will be preaching at the following churches near Melbourne on Sunday November 16th. Cornerstone Gospel Church in Frankston, during the morning worship service. Grace Community Bible Church in Endeavour Hills, during the evening service. Of course, he is also the keynote speaker at the Holy Epidemic Conference because he traveled the longest distance to get there (an important qualification for any keynote speaker). Pray for his strength as the schedule is packed (there will be a late night outreach scheduled on Saturday night in downtown Melbourne) and the trip is exhausting.

Evangelism Training Opportunities:

1. The Texas Revival Series presents Mark Cahill! Mark is the author of “One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven”. He has shared the Gospel with celebrities like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Vanilla Ice, and Charles Barkley.

Join us for an evening of evangelistic motivation in Dallas, TX on Saturday December 6th! Afterwards, we’ll be taking it to the streets!

Schedule:

Saturday, December 6th (City Church International)

5-6PM: Session #1

6-7PM: Session #2

7:30-10:00PM: Outreach in Dallas, TX (location TBD)

Sunday, December 7th:

10:00AM: Mark Cahill speaks at City Church International worship service

6:00PM: Mark speaks at First Baptist Church Justin in the evening service.

More information on this exciting event will be forthcoming in the next week or so. Registration will be FREE. If you can use some posters and\or postcards advertising the event at your local church or Christian bookstore, please contact me at jon@lostcauseministries.com to get free promotional items. 2. Reduced Price! Reduced Price! Reduced Price! TLC Ministries is partnering with One Million Tracts and Sports Fan Outreach to do the Super Bowl Outreach in Tampa Bay, FL in January 29-February 1, 2009! Come to Tampa for intense, powerful Biblical evangelism at one of the best venues to do evangelism in the world! From personal experience, we can tell you this is a great opportunity to share Christ with the average Super Bowl fan, other partiers who attend the Super Bowl pre-game events, and celebrities. This outreach is now ONLY $225 (plus your own airfare\travel) and includes: two meals per day, lodging, evangelism speakers, travel throughout the Tampa area, formal and informal personal training, customized tracts designed especially for this event, a t-shirt, and a commemorative picture from the outreach. The following speakers have been confirmed for this event: Tony Miano (Living Waters\Ambassador’s Academy), Al Whittinghill (formerly of Precept Ministries and now of Ambassadors for Christ International, recommended by Kay Arthur, Steve Green, Johnny Hunt, Leonard Ravenhill, Richard Owen Roberts, Ravi Zacharias, Vance Havner, Larry Burkett and others) , Dr. Elias Medeiros (professor of Missions at Reformed Theological Seminary) and Andy Lapins (Transfired Ministries). 3. Here comes another great seminar opportunity! On February 19-22, Anchored in Truth Ministries will host the “Wonderful Grace of Repentance” conference in Muscle Shoals, AL. Guest speakers include Voddie Baucham, Conrad Mbewe (the Spurgeon of Africa), David Miller, Jonathan Sims, Paul Washer, and Jeff Noblit.

Praise:

 

TLC praises God for two donations this past week, including a one-time gift of $3,000. To God be the glory!

Prayer Update:

1. Pray for all those who heard the Gospel at Texas Motor Speedway this week.

2. Pray for Ron and Jon as they prepare for upcoming court appearances on July 30, 2009. Pray for the CLA as they prepare the cases.

3. Pray for the upcoming outreaches.

4. Prayerfully consider attending the Super Bowl Outreach in Tampa Bay in early 2009.

5. Pray that the staff of TLC will grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

6. Pray for the financial situation of TLC Ministries. We are beginning to raise support for the time when our salaries are cut by 33% on January 1st. We are confident that the Lord will continue to provide.

7. Pray for the salvation of a UNT student who is a former agnostic but who has been reading Mark Cahill’s book, “One Heartbeat Away”. This student has been asking some great questions by email and seems to be very close to repenting and believing. Pray for good soil in this student’s heart!

8. Pray for Jon as he finishes preparing messages for his upcoming trip to Melbourne, Australia. He leaves on November 11th and returns on the 18th.