Battle Log

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It was another beautiful day at Redcliffe as the team turned up for outreach today. The team was made up of Richard, Penny, Rob, Joy, Alan, Debbie, Andrew and Col. God gave everyone just such a wonderful day of gospel conversations and plenty of tracts and bibles were handed out as well. Redcliffe is just such a responsive location where generally most people are happy to chat and listen to the gospel. We had a great conversation with a Muslim guy by asking him who was going to pay for his sins and he said that God would just forgive him and just ignore his sin. I went through the court room illustration with him saying that a just judge could not just ignore a person breaking the law and similarly God cannot just ignore sin that breaks his laws. Only by trusting in Christ who paid the price for breaking God's law could a person be forgiven. I'm not sure that he accepted what I said but at least he heard the gospel and accepted a tract and I think I gave him a gospel of John. Thank God, for there was lots of similar gospel conversation today and it was just so good to see the Holy Spirit touching so many with the hope of the gospel. By the end of our time everyone was just so much rejoicing in what the Lord had done through the team for his Glory. Our next outreach is in 2 weeks on the 19 th Sept, 11 am til 1 pm come and join us, it would be great to have more believers sharing the gospel with us. Praise God for his goodness and kindness. What a wonderful Saviour we have in the Lord Jesus !!!!

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Thursday and Friday were busy days of outreach, as usual.

I started with a couple of hours online on Thursday before heading to Northlands and then Eastgate.  The highlight was a discussion with a guy from Luxembourg!  And he spoke Luxembourgish - you are always learning things with online evangelism. ;)  But he spoke English well enough for me to be able to share the gospel with him.

Andy and I had a good time of outreach at the bus stops.  And it was great to have Daniel join us at Northlands.

At Northlands, I had people stop to talk who I would never have expected to.  I thank God for the gospel opportunities.

But the highlight conversation was with a lady who said she was already a Christian.  I used the “dagger in my back” scenario to see what her understanding of the gospel was.  Sadly, she didn’t even get close to the central key of Christianity: Jesus.  When I told her - she realised what she had been missing and felt sheepish.  She even said she needs to re-read her Bible.  She seemed to appreciate the brief conversation and gladly accepted a gospel tract with more information.  Thank you Lord.

At Eastgate, I had a high school kid approach me - I remembered talking to him before.  So I asked him what he had to do to go to heaven.  He started talking about the things he needed to do - none of which were the biblical answer.  I gently probed, and then suddenly (and unexpectedly) he said the word “trust”.  I smiled - something from our previous conversation had stuck!  I asked him what he had to trust in, and he said, “Jesus”.  So I said, “Trust that Jesus has done what for you?”.  He said, “that he died on the cross for my sin”.  It was in his head, but did he understand?  Sadly, his bus came before I could talk further.  God willing, I will have another opportunity to talk with him.  Or maybe he will cross your path one day?  Are you ready to share the gospel?

Friday started with the gospel + abortion outreach outside Christchurch hospital.  You can read about it here.

We then moved on to Cathedral Square for open air gospel proclamation.  Our hecklers had already started gathering.  I decided to take a different tack today.  In the past, one of the hecklers had become so aggressive, that we had to institute a policy of completely ignoring this guy.  Sadly, this led to us just having to preach over top of his heckling - to outsiders, it didn’t look good.  So today I decided to start re-engaging, and directly addressing the objections.  It went reasonably well.  A small group gathered.  Sadly, due to the constant stream of questions, I never managed to get to the gospel.  I still have much to learn!  I ran out of energy, and Marty stepped in to take over.  People would stop to listen.  I had at least one follow up conversation with a guy who had listened to Marty preach - he was impacted.

I then had a wonderful opportunity to approach two girls who had been listening.  One of them opened up with “I’m gay”.  So I just responded with, “Oh, hi, well - I’m hetrosexual, nice to meet you”.  We then fell into a discussion about where the universe came from.  But then the other came up with the issue of why God allows suffering.  Homosexuality and Theodicy are the two biggest objections I have to deal with.  I gently reasoned with them and then, suddenly, a lady who had been listening from a small distance interjected into the conversation.  To my surprise, one of the two girls defended me!  We exchanged names, and then she initiated a hand shake.  I sensed that now was not the time to push the conversation, and we parted ways at that point.  They left with tracts, and I told them that anytime they wanted to talk, they were welcome to approach me.

We moved to Cashel Mall - Bridge of Remembrance end.  I had a fascinating encounter there.  I had approached a lady to open a gospel discussion - she was open and we started to wrestle with the deep questions of life when suddenly a guy approached me and said “You made me believe in God!”.  I was a bit surprised, and then he said, “At Riccarton - you talked to me”.  He wanted to talk again, but as I was in the middle of a conversation!

I was able to finish the gospel conversation with the lady.  I went to find the guy and noticed that his friends and he were hearing the gospel from Roger on the flip chart.

Once that had finished, I was able to catch up with him and one of his friends to find out what was happening in his life.  Sadly, his reasons for believing God were experienced based, and he wasn’t believing that Jesus had died for his sin.  Yet, he is interested - and even reading a Bible.  His friend is Bahá’í and we ended up having a conversation where, sadly, resistance to the gospel started to build.  Even so, the gospel is the power of God for salvation - in His timing.

Mike and I finished the day with an evening outreach in the city.  Wow, some fascinating gospel opportunities were taken - praise God!  In Cathedral Square I got into some non standard gospel conversations with various people dressed very alternatively.  People would join the conversations at different times and things would get interrupted and so no conversation flow could really be established.  But gospel plowing did occur!

Eventually Mike and I gave up, and we headed off.  Our very next conversation was with a guy who was really keen to talk to us.  It turned out he had been listening to our conversations in Cathedral Square!  (I never noticed him.)  He was an ex-Christian and was ready for an apologetical fight.  We didn’t give him one - he already knows God exists!  We asked him what he understood about Christianity, and it became very clear that he never understood the gospel.  Eventually his whole demeanor changed - it was a great conversation where Mike and I tag teamed the discussion.

Near the end of the outreach, we managed to have some interesting conversations outside the pubs on Oxford Terrace.  I managed to get into conversation with an extremely drunk couple.  I’m not sure if they will remember the conversation at all - I told one to put the tract I gave her into her pocket and read it in the morning.

All glory to God for the opportunities to be a witness for Him.  Please keep us in prayer.
 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Sunnybank on Wednesday September 2, 2020 from 1300 -1500

After one month of rest, we have resumed serving on the street here at Sunnybank. Even though the Covic-19 community outbreak has not yet been completely over, general reaction of people is still quite receptive as such there were many divine appointments arranged by God for us to share the Gospel.

The team started with just Johnny and me, but God led Gary to join us soon after we did our opening prayer. Then David Loi also joined us at around 2pm. He partnered with Johnny as a learning curve handing out tract. Gary was very active today having many conversation that I had lost count. Seemingly God is bringing up Gary to become more upfront in approaching people for a chat. I had got 11 opportunities of outreach.

1) Annie a school girl possibly of Korean descendent, just heard the nutshell of gospel before the bus arrived though she appeared very appreciative and receptive.

2) A Cantonese speaking Old woman from China was reluctant to take the tract not to mention for a chat. But our common dialect helped to break the ice and I ended up sharing the full Gospel with her and she promised to read the tract to revise on what I shared with her.

3) May a Filipino Catholic Mum with her son Max. She also was reluctant to chat thinking that she is all right as a Catholic Christian, but God changed her mind to listen to my sharing of the full Gospel and realized her faith was not pure not having yet an absolute faith in Christ alone for genuine salvation. There was not enough time to elaborate so I had to let go to leave God to continue His work.

4) A Korean lady Fay with tattoo was welcoming for me to have a chat before the bus came, I could basically touched base on the Gospel apart from just giving her the tract and prayerfully God will lead her to reach a right decision later on.

5) Another Filipino mother and daughter were waiting for the bus. I was able to share with the Mum who ended up admitting she is a Catholic Christian. As usual, she does not have right concept of salvation which I rushed to explained to here before the bus came.

6) Alvin a young Malaysian Christian talked with Col before . I use diagnosis questions to make sure he has teh correct understanding of Gospel as well as assurance of salvation.

7) Nina a Vietnamese school girl who were receptive to the gospel. I was able to share the full gospel to her before her mum arrive to pick her up.

8) A Chinese girl rejected Johnny but took the tract from me

9) Teresa a Taiwanese girl who has no religious belief but her parents are claimed to be Buddhist. Yet she also appeared very receptive to the Gospel.

10) A Korean lady asking for direction. She was in a great hurry so I could not but let go. But trust that the action love will be used by God to lead her to Christ one day.

11) A Muslim lady who could not speak any English but I still manged to show her the love of Jesus and that she needs Jesus.

 

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Tuesday was the first day of spring!  I’ve now survived two winters - although, with online evangelism, it is so much easier navigating the weather.  And it just so happened, that the first day of spring was very wet, so online I went.

I had two conversations where I was able to deploy Google Translate to great effect.

The first was with a person who spoke Spanish and ZERO English.  I was amazed at the progress I made.  But sadly I didn’t get past the law with this person before the connection flaked out.

Stranger: Culpable
Stranger: But he would forgive me
Stranger: Creo
Stranger: He forgives me, I'm sure he's my friend
Stranger: I've never sinned and he knows it
You: But you have! You have lied, stolen, and your anger is like murder to God.
You: Do you know someone who is perfect and willing to die for you to receive your punishment from hell?
You: needGod.net
You: Still there?
Stranger has disconnected.

The last conversation of the outreach was with a girl who spoke portugese but could speak a little english as well.  After the chat, I would say she was already a Christian.  The conversation became quite pastoral with focus on justification by faith alone and why a Christian can have assurance of salvation.  And yet I didn’t want her to have a false sense of assurance and so there was talk about the fruit of repentance that will come in a Christian.  Ultimately, I pointed her to her pastors / church / family - as these people know her, where I had only just met her.  She seemed incredibly grateful for the conversation.  And I was incredibly grateful for Google Translate!  If she is not saved, may God change her heart; but if she is, may she continue to grow and be used by God for His glory!

I had an amazing conversation with three girls from Lebanon!  I don’t think I’ve talked to anyone from that country before.  They were Maronites (a form of Christianity) - something I’ve never heard of before and had to do a little research on later.  They looked to their good deeds as the way to salvation, and so I shared the law and the gospel - they came to grasp it very quickly.  I challenged them to respond to the gospel, and showed them why they are not really Christians.  One of them had a question about homosexuality - which I answered.  They seemed to really appreciate the conversation.

On Wednesday I spent two hours in the city before joining the Aussie team for two hours online.

There were four highlight conversations in the city.

Firstly I approached a construction worker who was engrossed in something on his phone - I expected him to not want to talk to me, so I was surprised by his friendliness!  He had a Christian background, but was pleasantly surprised when he came to understand the gospel.  He gladly received a follow up tract.

Then saw a guy coming who I thought would be keen for a chat.  I positioned myself to try to start a conversation when two ladies went past from the other direction.  I offered tracts and was surprised when they accepted them!  I quickly moved into a gospel conversation and they stopped to engage - they both seemed interested.  I could tell they didn’t have much time, so I moved quickly to explain the law and the gospel before they indeed moved on.

I encounter the Unicef workers a lot, who are out getting sign ups.  As I went past one of them, they approached me - not to sign me up, but they wanted to talk about the deep questions of life.  I ended up having a long conversation - and yet there was a deep resistance to the logic I was trying to share.  I was able to share the gospel - but it seemed to bounce off.  Eventually I wound up the conversation.  Apparently she had already received a tract from me.  This time, she accepted a “Which one is right?” and “How we know God exists and why it matters” before I moved on.

I finally made it down to Ara, and managed to get into a good conversation with two guys who were also resistant.  Eventually one of them said, “look, as long as I’m a good person, I’ll be okay” - the perfect opportunity to segway into the law!  The didn’t give me an opportunity to get to the gospel - but they did take tracts.

Online I had some good conversations.  The first was with a guy who didn’t seem to be responsive, and took some time to grasp the gospel.  He just didn’t seem interested, and I was surprised that he hadn’t disconnected.  And yet, to my surprise, it turns out he was very interested.  At the end of the conversation, he opened up about a fear of death - that he now understood the solution to!

I then had a fascinating text conversation with a person who had pretty good answers but was likely a false convert:

Stranger: Hi
You: Hi :)
Stranger: You <can’t repeat>?
You: What do you think happens after life?
You: No, I'm not, and I don't want to be.
Stranger: Ok
You: But, what do you think happens after life?
Stranger: I think that we go to heaven if we accept Christ as our saviour
You: Interesting answer! :) What did Jesus do so he could save us? And what did he save us from?
Stranger: He died in the cross for us and saved us from a lifetime of suffering
You: Right, he saved us from the punishment we deserve for our sins!
You: Have you accepted the gift of Jesus?
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: When I was in 4th grade
You: What do we have to do to accept that gift?
Stranger: It's not that hard you just accept him into your heart
You: The Bible says we are saved by grace, through faith.... we need to TRUST that Jesus died for our sins.
You: And Jesus dieing for our sins is the only reason we go to heaven.
You: Out of 100, how sure are you that you are going to heaven?
Stranger: Honestly I don't know I've accepted him as my saviour but I'm still not sure
Stranger: Why are you here?
You: ok, that is why I'm asking you these questions, because Hell is real and very serious - I don't want you to go there!
You: I'm here because I'm a Christian, and I want to share the good news of Jesus with people :)
Stranger: Well a word of advice don't do it on here
You: We can be 100% certain we are going to heaven, because our forgiveness is not based on how good we are but how good Jesus was - and that he died and rose for our sins.
You: But
You: Our life will be changed if we are trusting that Jesus died for us.
You: There are many false converts.
You: A word of advice - NO ONE should be here. It's a nasty place. But nasty people need Jesus.
You: needGod.net
Stranger: Ok I think I've had enough. Thanks for the lesson that I've heard to many times. Good bye
You: Why did you ask me If I'm <can’t repeat>?
You: Why are you here?
You: Has your life been changed by the gift of Jesus? Are you a false convert?
You: Read 1 John
You: I say that because I care for you.
Stranger: You know God may say that being <can’t repeat> is a sin but it's not it's completely and humanly natural
You: Read Matthew 5
Stranger: And you can't care for me... You don't even know me
You: Jesus said if you just look at someone with lust, it's like committing adultery with them in your heart
You: I care enough about you to spend time here to confront you with truth.
Stranger: Like I said before I've had enough have a nice day good bye
You: Your soul is the most important thing you have. To gain it, you must lose it.
You: needGod.net
Stranger: Good bye
You: needGod.net
Stranger: Stop sending that
You: The fact that you haven't left, shows that you care very much about this conversation.
You: God gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud heart. Don't be proud. :)
You: If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer, I'm not your enemy.
Stranger: <expletive> I guess I just wanted the last word which i have good bye
Stranger has disconnected.

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Operation 513 Battle Lof for Tooowng Village on Wednesday September 1, 2020 from 1330 to 1500

On the first day of Spring, we have resumed by grace the street evangelism at Toowong despite the Covid-19 community cluster outbreak is still posing threat of heath to the Queenslander in general. To me, it was also a very special new day after the birth of my 2nd Grand child Hannah the baby girl yesterday evening. Going on to the street again for the Lord needs to pay a price for not being able to visit Hannah as well as the whole family for an indefinite period until the covid-19 infection is over. But it is a worthy price to pay as it may be used by God to give birth to many spiritual new life by the almighty power of the Gospel.

Actually , every team mate has their price to pay. Winnie has to travel 1.5 hours by train one way to join this 1.5 hour street evangelism every week with her Husband coming along to support her. Gary Nean our Aussie team mate has to carry two big signs with gospel message by train. Johnny of course has to exert extra responsibility as both our physical and spiritual leader.

Apart from preaching the gospel, God always has a side lesson for us to learn. For consecutive times, we starts sluggishly without any successful chat. It is time for us to learn to let go of our anxiety as if stripping off the coat of self pride. After we have put 100% faith in God, the divine appointments then come continuously like flow of living water that cannot be stopped. God will also raise up and use the seemingly weakest link amongst us to prove that the gospel work we have done is not because of our experience and skill but simply the sovereign power of God. Today, Winnie made 9 significant fruitful contact while Johnny and I only got less opportunities. Gary was taking position in the far end under the footbridge with result not known to us, but of course he got all his chance.

Recap here below is my battle log of 7 conversation followed by the log of Winnie in Chinese for 9 persons.

1) Jerry an local Aussie UQ student, appeared very receptive and was able to share the nutshell of the gospel before the bus came.

2) A Korean girl initially not wanting to chat but was impressed by my sincerity as such I was able to finish sharing the gospel in a nutshell only just in time when the bus arrived.

3) I Met Wasi a Nigerian Christian. He was the rare one with clear and hundred percent assurance of salvation faith. I was able to Supplement him with the threefold of salvation as per 2 Cor 1:10. He even eagerly checked up the bible verse to get what I wanted to share with him. Our sharing also could not last long because of the arrival of the bus.

4) Suby an Indian young woman after showing initial reluctance to stop for a chat, she claimed she is a Christian and her uncle is a pastor. But she showed no correct understanding of gospel lacking full assurance of assurance. Thanks God I finally managed to make here understand she should have 100% , not even 99.99%, assurance of salvation simply because of Christ alone.

5) I followed up with the girl Lucy that Gary chatted a while ago and left for the bus stop. When I asked her if she thinks she can go to heaven by being a good person, she failed to grasp the essence of the gospel. So I gave her a bit more explanation luckily before the bus came.

6) Cathy a catholic Filipino initially rejected to take a tract as she thought she does not need to hear th gospel again. But she failed the diagnosis test then I took her through the gospel to establish her real basis of salvation is by Christ alone as such she should have 100$ faith in Jesus. At the end, she thanks for my passion to help her out to correct her misconception about redemptive grace.

7) Chrystal, a Malaysian Chinese Christian. Thanks God she is the rare one like Wasi today that have 100% assurance of salvation.

感謝主的带领，今天傳了福音给九人。

當我們到達傳福音地點，等了十分鐘，都沒有人留下聽福音。關牧師説可能我們要再次禱告。馬上我遇到第一位是中国少女，講述重要的福音後，巴士到達。第二位，Lily從香港來的少女，初時我們用英语溝通，但她説不太明白，我問她從那裏來，她説香港，我便用廣東話講述福音，於是她完全明白了，願意回教會尋求更多的真理。第三位，本地人 Joe,是天主教徒，我們講及天主教舆基督教的分别。第四位，好，中国少女。我用很快的時間 重要的福音傳给她，當我講完，巴士到達，她很開心的謝謝我所傳的福音。第五位，Alex 中国青年，不太明白我用英语講的福音，於是我用不流利的普通话對他説，他终于明白了，尋求教會更進一步的認識. 第六位，Cathy, 完全明白福音，願意回教會。第七位，Max, 本地人，初時不願意聽福音，當他坐下來，我行過去問他，你認識耶穌基督嗎？跟着傳福音给他。第八位是澳洲女士，Sally, 她明白耶穌救恩，願意回教會尋求更多真理。第九位，Neil, 天主教徒，我講述天主教與基督教的分别，他説有在家禱告，但沒有回教會，我説可能现在教會都在網上進行，嘗試網上找教會吧！Johnny 叫我，收工了。跟着關牧師又到來，還和他影相。

感謝讚美主今天的帶领。祂的大能，讓我不配的口，都可以傳福音。願今天聽到福音人士，更進一步尋求神，與主聯合。

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Saturday - Tell Me Conference day!  This was the seventh yearly iteration.  It’s partly because of this conference that I ultimately started working for Operation 513.

Just over six years ago, Andy came up with the idea of running an evangelism conference.  I thought he was crazy!  Who would want to come to an evangelism conference?  It came together and happened (this is where the name “Tell Me” came from)… and it was good!  Some great connections occurred.  So we decided to do it again the next year.  But who to speak?  I’d heard of Josh Williamson, and after discussions we decided to get him over.  This was our introduction to Operation 513.  And it went from there.  I look back and am amazed at what God has done with “Tell Me” - the ministry and the conference - now folded into Operation 513.  If we are humble, and continue to trust in God, then I can’t wait to see what the future brings.  May God get all the glory!

After the teaching part of the conference, most of the attendees came out on the streets to get a taste of real street evangelism!

We started with one of the speakers at the conference, Matthew Johnston (himself coming to Christ through open air ministry, now a Pastor at Riverbend Bible Church in the Hawke’s Bay), open air preaching in Cathedral Square.  It was great learning from his style.  He spoke loudly and clearly, and yet worked hard to not come across as angry or yelling.  And he engaged with people as they walked past, even getting one guy to stop and interact - but ultimately listen.  Matthew is pictured with a passerby stopped and listening.  Soon after, the other speaker at the conference (Roger Spicer) had started engaging the very same passerby in gospel conversation - also pictured.

After the preaching, we split up into smaller groups and spread out within the central city to engage people with tracts, and in conversation.

It was so wonderful seeing so many Christians out giving it a go, and observing and learning from those that had more experience.

I ended up getting engrossed in my own gospel conversations, but from time to time I would notice that other Christians around me were getting into their own conversations - some for the first time!

The flip chart really helped.  People would walk up to it and want to give it a go, making it easy for those that were a bit rusty to get going, or for newbies to get involved.

Personally, I had four stand out conversations.  All follow ups!

The first was with a guy who said he needed evidence before he would believe in God.  I asked what evidence he required.  He said, if God walked up to him and shook his hand he would believe (he wouldn’t).  I said he didn’t need that to happen, that he already knew that God existed - and then used the building analogy to explain why.  Surprisingly he opened up and I was able to share the gospel with him.  He then had another apologetical question - he was surprised I was able to answer it.  I challenged him to respond to the gospel - God willing I will see him again soon and be able to continue to follow up with him.

The third one was with a guy I’ve been talking to for about a year now.  The last time was the previous day carrying a box of beer.  Today he was hung over, but both times he was happy to chat - he still had the tract I’d given him the previous day, I gave him two more today.  I just continued to labour with him.  He knows, yet his heart hasn’t been changed.  Oh, God, have mercy!

It was a tiring, but wonderful day.

Sunday I was in catch up mode (e.g., these Battle Logs).  But I was able to spend two hours online with the Aussie team.  I was paired up with the Pink Angel - Matthew Andersen - I learnt so much from listening to his gospel conversation.  The guy he was talking to came to understand the clear logic of the gospel, but suppressed the truth - even admitting that he was denying the truth because he loved his sin!  And yet he was open, and indicated that he would consider the discussion.  He needs God to change his heart - that is his only hope.  The gospel is the power of God to salvation!
 

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I spent six hours in online outreach on Thursday.

Looking at my notes, it looks like I had a string of resistant people, but then I copied and pasted a text based conversation.  I now remember, whoever I was talking to was very open:

Stranger: I really don’t know
You: It's the building you can see - right?
Stranger: Yah
You: ok, in the same way
You: We can't see God
You: But we can see this Universe, infinitely more complicated than the engineering in a building
You: So, that is how we know God exists.
Stranger: You have a point
Stranger: Ok makes sense

You: What do we have to do to go to heaven?
Stranger: Be a good person and make good decisions
You: 1) Have you ever lied?
Stranger: Yes
You: 3) Have you ever murdered someone?
Stranger: No way
You: Ever been angry with someone?
Stranger: Yes
You: Innocent or guilty?
Stranger: That’s is a great point

Stranger: I’m not sure
Stranger: Jesus
Stranger: I have never really looked at That
Stranger: Heaven
Stranger: Jesus
Stranger: Sacrifice himself for us all
Stranger: Yah
You: TRUST that JESUS died on the cross to pay our hell fine.
Stranger: Yah

Stranger: I always was scared I might go to hell for little things and that’s why I never really looked into this
Stranger: Makes sense

Stranger: Ok
You: needGod.net
Stranger: That is the best thing I have seen on omegle
Stranger: Wow
Stranger: Ok
Stranger: Ok cool I will definitely use this thank you so much

On Friday we had a calm gospel + abortion outreach outside the hospital before moving into Cathedral Square for some open air preaching.  There was a new heckler today, and Andy did a great job interacting with him!

There were a lot of evangelists in Cashel Mall later in the afternoon - from various outreach organisations and churches.

I ended up having a follow up opportunity with a guy I’ve been talking to for well over a year.  With all the Covid-19 craziness, he has been thinking deeply on his mortality.  I was able to take him through the gospel again.  Frustratingly, he seems to be understanding, but not responding to the gospel.  I challenged him to respond - today - but only God can change his heart.  Pray that God would have mercy on him.

Roger had a great chat with some uni students (pictured), and Andy ended up having a long chat with some guys down by the river (also pictured).

Friday evening was taken with Tell Me Conference prep (including venue set up), so I wasn’t able to do the usual outreach.  But I was very encouraged to have so many who attended the conference on Saturday join us on the streets in the afternoon - it was very encouraging!  But I’ll write about that in my next report.
 

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Last Saturday, the team met at Bribie for the monthly outreach, but the howling wind had pretty much emptied the beaches.  So we handed out some tracts to the few scattered people who still hung around and put tracts on all the nearby car windscreens.  Then we headed over to Caboolture to do a letterbox drop.  We covered the area behind the Caboolture train station with Project 139's “Life is Precious" Gospel tracts.  We were grateful that we were still able to give people the Gospel, despite the windy weather.  Please pray that these tracts dropped into random post-boxes would bear much fruit for the kingdom of God.  Please pray that God would use these tracts to save innocent lives from murder in the womb and souls from death and hell to the glory to of God.

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Newquay Evangelism: Gospel Advance! 

I must admit today I didn’t really feel like heading out onto the streets to share the gospel. The past couple of weeks have been hectic with ministry so I am feeling rather worn down. Yet, the Lord moved in such a way today that I am so glad that I continued with the outreach.

It was just Nigel (The Faith Mission) and I out today; but despite the fact that we were few in numbers we had an extremely productive day of witnessing. The high street of Newquay was very busy with people enjoying the wonderful weather. As we walked along we realised that our normal witnessing location would be no good as there was a very loud busker nearby. As a result we headed further up the road where we found a busy, though quieter area. Here we began to hand out tracts and seek gospel conversations.

Immediately, I was struck by the willingness of people to take tracts; at times it felt like we couldn’t hand them out fast enough. But not only was literature going out, but gospel conversations were beginning to take place also.

The first conversation I had was with a 72 year old retired builder. He told me that he was an atheist as there was no proof of God’s existence. I engaged him with some basic level apologetics, which he admitted made sense. He then went onto reveal that even though he claims to be an atheist he still finds himself praying when things go wrong. I explained to this man that Romans 1 indicates that all people knows that God exists, and that he knows that God is real; the man admitted that he did know, but then said he couldn’t accept Christianity because the Bible was full of holes. I asked if he could show me one of these holes, it was then that he said that he has never actually read the Bible. We chatted a bit more, and I was able to explain the gospel fully to him. At the end of our conversation he said he enjoyed the chat and it gave him something to think about.

The next conversation I had was one of those encounters that you long to have. Two young people took a tract then came back to talk; the man was from Poland and the lady was from Italy. Both told me that they had grown up in Roman Catholic countries, but they never had anything to do with religion. The Polish man said he used to be anti-God and religion, but now he sees clearly that God exists and that He made everything, then he said, “But I don’t know who that God is!” These are the statements that every evangelist wants to hear because we can point to the true God. I explained the gospel to them, and both seemed amazed. They listened very carefully as I spoke of Jesus and how people can be forgiven. At the end of the conversation they were very thankful for the chat; they said it was their first day in Newquay as they were down on holidays from Manchester. Both took a Gospel of John, an indepth gospel booklet and an invite to Newquay Baptist Church. I wish every conversation was like this one!

There isn’t enough space to detail other conversations, but needless to say the Lord was moving today. At the end of the day the Lord really provided a special encouragement to me. As I witnessed to two young men who are doing their theology A-levels, I noticed a couple come in to listen. When I finished the conversation they introduced themselves as being Christians from Birmingham. They told me that as they walked our high street they were saying to each other how wonderful it would be to witness here, then they saw Nigel and I.

As we chatted the man said that he wanted to share a passage of Scripture with me in order to encourage me in the work and whatever else we are facing. He opened the Bible and read Jeremiah 1:17-19

“Therefore prepare yourself and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them. For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land— against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.”

That passage was particularly encouraging as we are facing an increase of demonic opposition in Newquay; which is only to be expected when we stand for Jesus. The battle has been hard and exhausting, so it was a great blessing to be reminded from Scripture that the Lord has not abandoned us.

At around 3pm we had to finish our outreach as we had run out of tracts. We give thanks that the Lord moved in Newquay, and we pray that all those we spoke to and who took literature would come to know and love the Lord Jesus.

SDG!

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On Tuesday and Wednesday, I spent all my outreach time online.

For Wednesday I tried to keep track of all the gospel conversations for this report.

I started the outreach connecting to three guys from Canada.  I sparred with two of them for a while over how they know God exists - one understood, the other was more resistant.  The third guy claimed to be a Christian.  They were happy to stay for me to take them through the law and the gospel.

Next up I was connected with a guy from Mumbai in India.  His English wasn’t good, but I persisted.  At one point he offered to show me something, I was concerned about what he meant and was ready to turn on my video shield!  But then I realised that he wanted to show me his god.  Which he did, it was an idol.  I was able to communicate some of the law, and start touching on the gospel, before he finally disconnected.

I was then beamed into the office of three Philippine government workers.  They all had masks on.  I struggled to get a conversation going, as only one of them would respond, and that was via typing.  I was able to drop a link to needGod.net before they disconnected.

Someone with no video also responded via text.  They believed in God, heaven and hell.  I started on the law.  They denied stealing, and then went silent but didn’t disconnect.  I continued through the law but they disconnected before I could share the gospel.

An American kid with filthy language was up next.  In response to my standard opening question he responded with “I’m a kid, how am I supposed to know the answer to that?”.  He started to engage when he suddenly had to go.

A very rude and disturbing young man was up next.  He heard the law, but it just made him go nastier!  I disconnected.

Another person with no video and responding via text.  They wanted to go to heaven to see their first horse.  They were very “good” - had never lied, and had never talked back to their parents.  When I explained that anger is the root of murder, they disconnected.

I then was connected with a guy who had a physics degree who was making synth music.  Science was king for him and he was deeply resistant to the God who made him.  Unsurprisingly he denied a universal conscience and was resistant to the law.  I didn’t have the energy to fight him, so we parted ways.

Up next was another resistant guy from Brazil.  He tapped out with: "even with all these arguments it is not something that I think is important to believe, I find it interesting and very incredible the faith that you have but it is not something that I have".

My final conversation before a break started with the guy I saying “Welcome to hell, can I take your order please?”.  It made for a fascinating conversation where he heard the law, and the gospel.  He had “heard it before”, and was resistant.
That was the first two hours, the second two hours went better!

It started with an odd conversation with a “Christian”.  He couldn’t articulate the gospel, so I started working through the law when he opened up about a desire to hurt himself and a struggle with anxiety.  I tried to engage with hope, but we lost our connection.  I was able to leave a link to needGod.net before that happened.

I then started getting into really good conversations.  I had a long chat with a fireman / mechanic.  He engaged and started talking about how the conversation is an “eye opener”.  I was very encouraged.

Next a kid for the USA with a big Canadian flag on his wall.  He was a deep thinker, and there would be long periods of silence as he processed what I was saying and tried to come up with objections.  He grasped the gospel quickly, and after talking about counting the cost, I pleaded with him not to shelve what he had heard, but to respond!

A kid, who first up said he was on cocaine (later he said he was joking)!  He came to understand the gospel, but he kept laughing.  I asked why, and he said he was connected to a group of people who were listening to our conversation.  I asked what they thought about the gospel - he said one of them wanted me as their Dad!  I told them there is a better Dad than me: God.

I then had two skips: 1) a girl who never lied, or stole, skip.  2) a guy who lied, never stole, skip.

Next up a guy in deep denial of God - even in the face of proof.  I decided not to engage.

A person with no video you responded via text.  They went silent on me but stuck around.  I shared the gospel before they disconnected.

Second to last conversation was with a guy who heard the gospel.  I said, “So, what’s the reason you go to heaven then?”.  He responded with “Haha, nice one buddy.”  And disconnected.

My last conversation was with some kids who came to grasp the gospel!

So.  That is how my four hour stint of outreach went.  Lots of opportunity for plowing and gospel sowing.  Only God can bring the increase!
 

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