NOHO Subway Station - 5/6/09

Steve and I went over to the NOHO subway today for about an hour and a half during the rush our commute and had an AMAZING time witnessing, open airing and handing out tracts! That place is swarming with people around that time and many of them are having to wait for the bus so they listen. We were by God's grace able to hand out about 400 tracts and I even had 4 people take a Gospel of John from me while I preached! Please pray for Ruby who I got to witness to 1-0n-1. 

"The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." Matthew 9:37-38

HOLLYWOOD ADVENTURE-5/9/09

I think its time to go to Hollywood!!

 Several people I know are itching to go. We haven't been in over a month so its time! We will meet at my house this Saturday  4:00 pm, eat dinner and car pool it around 5:00 pm. Please call my cell phone to RSVP and once we know who is going we can coordinate a meal.

Good news is that the church has given us a small budget for tracts, so I will have a bunch of them for the team!

NOHO Subway Station - 5/5/09

MAN!! That subway station just got 10 times cooler! What an amazing local "fishing spot". Today I went there for about an hour and a half, distributed about 200 tracts and open aired twice. A lot of "fist pumps" and "amens" some heckling and a satanist who threw up a devil sign at me... FIVE people took a gospel of John as I was preaching! One young guy named Johnny was even reading it and I started to talk with him. He shared how he has done a lot of bad stuff and wants to change. I addressed the problem of sin and shared Jesus with him! He said he might visit CBC.

God is awesome!!

San Fernando Court House-5/5/09

Just got back from the courthouse, today it was just me and Tony. I was blessed to hand out about 150 tracts, and open aired twice. After the first open air a guy named Mario came up and took a Gospel of John. Glory to God!

MAGIC RETURNS!!

Our sovereign God is so gracious that a guy who heckled me in Hollywood while I open air preached (see posting 3/18/09) got witnessed to by none other than Ray Comfort!

The Lord is such a kind God to send multiple evangelists into this young mans life!

See the witness encounter here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmzaCsMz7Pg

PRAY FOR ALFRED!!

Here is the latest update on Alfred: we have regular bible studies on the phone about 3-4 times a week. We're going through the Gospel of  John and sometimes other scriptures if he is having a problem in life. I want to teach him to GO TO THE BOOK for the answers!

He has also been handing out tracts to people he meets on his long bus commute to work.

PRAISE THE LORD!

DIVIDE THE WORD

I think you should all checkout this ministry headed up by Seth Kniep who does open air preaching and evangelism: Divide the Word

There are a lot of great recourses there that will equip you and encourage you. 

This was particularly helpful to me!

The Five "Don'ts" of Open Air Preaching

© Seth Kniep, 2008. All rights reserved.

Here's a few "don'ts" I've picked up from doing open air every week:

* Don't get discouraged if some people nearby refuse to look at you. This does not mean that they aren't listening. This distracted me my first time and effected my edge, but the next time I prepared mentally and went for it. I once heard a story about George Whitefield open air preaching on a day when no one showed up to listen. But one farmer could hear him, though Whitefield could not see the farmer. The farmer heard everything Whitefield said and that day surrendered his life to Jesus! 

* Don't over prepare. Too much material makes it cumbersome and you lose their attention fast. Open air is totally different from preaching inside a building or teaching a class. A lot of people passing through will decide whether or not they will keep listening after listening to 90 seconds of your message. That means you have 90 seconds for them to hear the gospel which means you can't slowly build up to your point. I try to repeat my main point so much that everyone who hears any part of the message will know what it is.

* Don't have more than one point. One verse, one point, lots of illustrations, an attention getting intro and a hard hitting conclusion I've found very helpful. It's up to you, but Alex Montoya and Ray Comfort (open air preachers) have both advised that you keep it simple, clear, and keep hitting the same point from 10,000 different angles.

* Don't use notes. This will distract more than anything else. If you know your message and trust the Spirit, He'll carry you through.

* Don't make excuses. The first time you open air do not start by saying, "This is my first time doing this kind of preaching" or some other excuse. It sets the wrong tone for the whole message. Just jump right in with confidence and passion.

But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose. So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea" (Luke 4:43-44). 

Burbank Media Center - 5/2/09 - FOLLOW UP

What a great night out! I have been so encouraged by the faithfulness of CBC evangelists. Tonight we were represented by Sharon, Steve, Dan and his kids, Forest and myself. We handed out about 500 tracts and had several 1-on-1 conversations.

The highlight was that Dan open aired for the FIRST time! By God's grace he did a great job reading from Romans 1 and shared some of his testimony. He must have been doing well... he got heckled.

The Lord has been faithful to light the fire of evangelism. Glory to God!!

BRAND IT!

Rubber stamps, labels, printers, hand write... something!

NOHO Subway Station - 5/1/09

Yesterday, I had to get some work done on our car so while waiting, I got a shuttle ride to the NOHO subway station. There I was able to share the good news with Bel, an artist. I had a perfect object lesson when he didn't read the "employee parking only" sign and got a ticket. That was a perfect object lesson for showing him that even if he doesn't know God's law, God has written a knowledge of it on his heart and will still judge him for what he does know. Then I shared the good news... he took a gospel of John!

I was also able to hand out 100 Million Dollar bills and 100 of Tony's "Sombrero Galaxy" Tracts!

There are opportunities to share the gospel EVERYWHERE, please take advantage of those opportunities while we have the freedom to!!!