“He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” (Ps. 2:4).
On September 1-3, 2009, The Great News Network (Darrel Rundus) took the United States Secret Service to court, claiming illegal search and seizure in June 2006 of 83 packs of Million Dollar Bill gospel tracts. One of the agents threatened Tim Crawford with arrest if he did not surrender the tracts. He surrendered the tracts and it became news around the world that the Secret Service would confiscate gospel tracts from a Christian ministry.
In September, Darrel, Tim and I (Jon) gave testimony in United States District Court for the Northern District of Dallas before Judge Solis regarding this illegal search and seizure.
Glory to God, today Judge Solis found in favor of GNN and has ordered the return of the 83 packs of Gospel tracts to Darrel Rundus and The Great News Network!
In his finding, Judge Solis stated that the Secret Service conducted an illegal search and seizure when they confiscated the tracts. Judge Solis further found that the tracts are NOT violations of the counterfeiting law (the basis for the illegal search and seizure). Additionally, Judge Solis stated that two of the Secret Service agents “conspired together” to cover up their actions, including lying on the stand. We thank God that Judge Solis understood the issues at hand and found accordingly.
TLC takes no joy in the shame that the actions of these agents brings on the law enforcement profession or the United States government. We want nothing but to live our lives in peace and in submission to our government while we practice our freedom of speech and freedom of religion. But it is no credit to the Secret Service when their agents act illegally and lie to cover up their own actions, in rebellion to the Constitution of the United States and more importantly, the law of God. We pray for them, that our Lord might be gracious to them and give them spiritual life. They have heard the gospel more than once, both in hallway outside of the court room and when they confiscated the tracts in 2006. Please pray for Agents Kennedy, Erdman and Whatley.
We do take joy in the fact that these effective Gospel tracts now have been formally found to be in compliance with the law and that the actions of these agents in June of 2006 have been found to be illegal. In fact, we take GREAT joy in this and thank our God for His direct intervention.
We also want to thank God for Attorney Steve Crampton, Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel with Liberty Counsel. Steve is a solid believer who passionately and intelligently made the case and is concerned for the glory of God in all of this. He is a man of integrity and a warrior for Christ.
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”
Romans 1:21,22
Evangelism Quote:
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No wisdom of men or angels is able to search the veins of this mine, to tell all the threads of this web, or to understand the lustre of it; they are as far from an ability fully to comprehend it, as they were at first to contrive it.That wisdom that invented it can only comprehend it.”
–Stephen Charnock
Regular, Weekly Outreaches:
1. Truck Stop on I-35 W, north of Fort Worth: Thursdays, from 7-9PM. Truck to truck witnessing. Contact: Ron Martinez (ron@lostcauseministries.com).
2. Day Laborer Camp (Mckinney):Saturdays from 7-8AM. Witnessing to the Hispanic community. Spanish tracts and one-to-ones. Contact: Byron Porter (byron@lostcauseministries.com).
3. Skate Park (Allen): Saturdays from 10-11PM. One-to-ones with skaters. Contact: Byron Porter (byron@lostcauseministries.com).
Special Outreaches:
1. Thursday, April 1st, 10AM-2:30PM: TLC Ministries will take the gospel to the campus of University of North Texas. We will be in free speech area 5, the area south of the Willis Library. We will be passing out tracts, doing one-to-ones and open-air preaching. Come celebrate National Atheists Day on the campus of University of North Texas! If you are planning on coming to this, please email Jon at jon@lostcauseministries.com.
2. Saturday, April 3rd, Noon-5PM: TLC Ministries will take the gospel to the Deep Ellum Arts Festival in the Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas, TX. This is a great time to do one-to-ones and pass out tracts. We might try some open-air preaching, Lord willing.
3. Sunday April 11th, 2PM-5PM: TLC Ministries will take the gospel to the Main Street Arts Festival in downtown Ft. Worth. We have done this festival every year since 2005 and it is always a great blessing and a challenge. The last couple of years, the organizers have hired a bag-piper to try to drown us out when we preach on Saturday. Other believers will be there on Saturday; last year we discovered that we could preach on Sunday afternoon with very little resistance. Therefore, we will focus our efforts on Sunday afternoon again this year.
4. Thursday, April 15th-Sunday, April 18th: TLC Ministries will be assisting TXARM with ministry at the Texas Motor Speedway during the Samsung Mobile 500 NASCAR weekend. TLC usually assists with ministry opportunities including handicap transportation and literature distribution at the main gates,but there are opportunities for childrens ministry, service ministry to track employees, and more.
To be involved you MUST: 1) fill out the necessary forms available at the TXARM site and bring them with you, 2) purchase (or bring with you) an official TXARM shirt (this identifies you as being with the ministry so track officials recognize you), and 3) sign in EACH DAY at the TXARM ministry site (this is for liability reasons for Texas Motor Speedway).
Tentative TLC Schedule at TMS:
Thursday, April 15th, Noon: Arrive at TXARM site to sign in for literature distribution. Handicap rides begin at noon as well (arrive earlier if planning on doing a ride-along). Pass out tracts and TXARM literature until 3PM. Jon Speed will leave and return around 5PM to pass out tracts at the gates for the NASCAR practice session.
Friday, April 16th, 11AM: Arrive at TXARM site to sign in. Handicap rides begin at 9AM (arrive earlier if doing a ride-along). Literature distribution from 11:30AM until 2PM. Jon Speed will leave and return around 5PM to pass out tracts at the gates for the ARCA Rattlesnake 150. Ministry events will take place at the TXARM site from 8:30PM until 10PM or so.
Saturday, April 17th, 9:30AM: Arrive at TXARM site to sign in. Handicap rides begin at 9:30AM (arrive earlier if doing a ride-along). Literature distribution from 10AM until 2:30PM at the gates. Jon Speed will not be there on the 17th due to a prior commitment at UNT.
Sunday, April 18th, 9:30AM: Arrive at TXARM site to sign in. Handicap rides begin at 9:30AM (arrive earlier if doing ride-along). Literature distribution from 10AM until the Samsung Mobile 500 begins at 2:00PM. Jon Speed will be speaking at the chapel service at TXARM’s infield ministry location at 10AM, but will not have extra infield passes.
5. Friday April 23rd, 7PM-11PM: TLC will take a team to the Denton Arts & Jazz Festival in Denton to pass out tracts and do one-to-one at this festival. We do NOT have a booth this year, but we are planning on hitting this festival with the gospel. For more information, contact Tim Crawford at tim@lostcauseministries.com.
6. Saturday, May 1st: TLC Ministries is applying for a festival booth at the Denton Cinco de Mayo Festival in Denton, TX. We will set up our 10 x 10 booth and do one-to-ones throughout the day. If you speak Spanish, we could especially use your help at this festival. English speakers will do fine here as well. TLC will provide the booth space, scheduling, water, free tracts and Bibles: all you need to do is show up! This is a great opportunity for anyone who is new to evangelism. If you would like to sign up for a two hour shift, email Jon Speed at jon@lostcauseministries.com.
Evangelism Resources:
1. We highly recommend Living Waters’ School of Biblical Evangelism! Check out this promotional video.
2. Here is a great resource on theology, church history, Biblical studies and more! It is an archive of lectures by R.W. Glenn, the guy who partnered with Todd Friel to do the series on hermeneutics.
3. Shawn Holes was recently a guest on Tony Miano’s Ambassador’s Alliance Radio show. He tells his story of being arrested in Glasgow, Scotland for preaching against homosexuality in the open-air there.
4. This is a sermon I recently preached at Sovereign Grace Bible Church in Flagstaff, AZ. The text is 2 Timothy 3:10-17. I include it here with the hope that it might be an encouragement to you to be faithful to the Word of God above and beyond all else.
Is Jesus God? Debate at University of North Texas
This is a Dialogue in a form of a Academic Debate taking place between Muslims and Christians. There will be three representatives for each side. The people on the Christian panel are Jon Speed, Yuce Kabakci, and Tyler McNabb. The Muslim panel will be Brother Khalil Meek, Brother Yaseem Black, and Ali Jahan.
The debate takes place on the campus of University of North Texas and will be open to any who would like to observe. The date is April 17, 12PM-1:30PM.
For more information, contact Jon Speed at jon@lostcauseministries.com.
Psalm 119 Conference:
We will be running The Five Hundred event in conjunction with this conference. The goal, as always, is to try to get 500 people out on the streets sharing the gospel at the same time. Usually, we do this in conjunction with Living Waters’ Deeper Conference in Atlanta. On Saturday, May 15th, we will do it right here in Dallas\Fort Worth. Registration for the outreach (only) is FREE.
This is a Dialogue in a form of a Academic Debate taking place between Muslims and Christians. There will be three representatives for each side. The people on the Christian panel are Jon Speed, Yuce Kabakci, and Tyler McNabb. The Muslim panel will be Brother Khalil Meek, Brother Yaseem Black, and Ali Jahan.
The debate takes place on the campus of University of North Texas and will be open to any who would like to observe. The date is April 17, 12PM-1:30PM.
For more information, contact Jon Speed at jon@lostcauseministries.com.
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