Hello Brothers and Sisters
Well Saturday came and Jason, Mark, Luke, and myself (Anne) headed out again. Greg has been very busy with work and battling health issues so he has not been able to come in awhile. Please pray these issues will be resolved soon.
Anyway, we got down to Deep Ellum around 11:15 p.m. which is pretty early for us and as usual for that early in the evening there were not that many people around. We prayed and then Mark and I headed down one side of the street and Luke and Jason took the other side. It was kind of an international night for me and Mark. First, we got to talk to some guys from Croatia. These guys were here to play basketball and let me tell you they were huge. I am five two and a half and Mark is about five seven, I guess, and I don't think Mark even reached their shoulders so you can imagine how big they were to me :) Any way, I started by asking Marin if he had a christian background which he replied to that he had been raised Catholic although he was didn't really practice it. He said that he had attented a baptist church for the last two weeks here in the U.S. and he did not really see the difference between them and Catholism. This I have to say was a great lead into a conversation about Christ. I began by talking about the main difference between Catholism and Christianity by saying that in Catholism when you sin you go to a priest and confession, the priest then tells you to do this and that and you will be forgiven. I asked Marin to confirm that what I said was correct and he said yes. I don't remember that exact words of what I said next but basically I said that we can't do anything in order to earn forgiveness, that we are not good enough nor can we do enough to desire forgiveness. I then asked him to take the good person test and we went through the ten commandments and the courtroom illustration. Marin was attentive and seemed interested in what I was saying. Mark meanwhile was talking to Marin's friend whose name I don't know. I love to talk to people from different countries who are going to go back to those countries. You never know if they will get saved and go back to their countries and start spreading the Gospel. It is very exciting.
Mark and I then started talking to one of the parking attendents and he was from Ethiopia. He said he was saved and then he told us talk to one of his co-workers because he was Muslim and needed to hear about God. He tried to get his co-worker to come over but he refused. Muslims will not usually talk to us or take any tracts.
The last guy Mark and I talked to was Bobby. Bobby was Japenese, although I think he has lived in America his whole life, and he is a Buddhist. Mark and ended up talking to him for over an hour. It was a great conversation. Bobby did not seem convicted throughout the conversation but it was a great time of debate and question and answer time. Neither Mark nor I had ever talked to a Buddhist and we knew nothing about the religion so I was also a great time of learning for us. Bobby's main thought was that Buddhism and Christianity have the same basis when you get down to it and that is love thy neighbor as thy self. This I thought was very interesting because it completely takes God out of religion. I replied that I disagreed because the basis of Christianity is love God and a natural outcome of that will be a love for your neighbor. Bobby also said that the main difference between Buddism and Christianity is that Buddism is internal (the strength comes from you), while Christianity is external (the strength comes from a being outside of yourself). I can't remember how Mark and I replied to this. Anyway, another point that Bobby had was that marriage was a man made structure which I again disagreed with. I said that marriage was an illustration of how our relationship with God should be. In a marriage, the man is the provider, protector, leader, and should love the woman as himself, this is God's role, and the woman in the marriage is to respect, honor, obey, and love the man in return and in response to how he loved us. The woman in the marriage represents how we as christians are to respond to God to which Bobby replied with disbelief that "I was going to take that in this day and age and haven't I heard of women's lib", to which I replied that yes I was going to take it and I didn't believe in women's lib. Bobby looks at Mark and goes " I like this, no wonder you like this" (this referring to Christianity). It was frankly very humorous. Throughout our conversation we also talked about evolution, death, eternity etc. At one point during the conversation some guys, Jordan and his friend whose name I didn't write down, who were also passing out tracks stopped and gave us some but then kept walking. Later near the end of the conversation they came back and Bobby decided to draw them into the conversation. I was concerned as you don't know what other people's beliefs are and they might be a hinderence but God was faithful and these guys were on the same page we were. They joined the conversation which was a blessing and they had a Bible which they convinced Bobby to exchange some of his information on Buddism with them for the Bible and they would both read each others papers and then e-mail each other and talk about it. We left Bobby with one last thought. There is a God and one day he will have to stand before Him and give an account.
Saturday was a lot of fun and very encouraging especially after the rough time I had the last time we went. We were out there for four hours until 3:15 p.m. so we didn't get home until almost four. Thankfully, God had allowed me to get a three and a half hour nap before going so I felt pretty good and energized. I actually wanted to go to Denny's on the way home but the guys were about to fall over so we didn't go.
Some of the other people Mark and I talked to were Mordecai and Andrea, Chris and Matt, Erin, and Damon. Please pray for all those mentioned and for others that I may not have mentioned because I can't read Mark's handwriting.
God Bless
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Monday, September 11, 2006
Tommy Boy!
Jason's report:
A note on last week, we didn't go to Deep Ellum because Mark, Anne and I were at youth group retreat. (Anne and I are both staff volunteers and Mark is in the group) While at the retreat Mark and I were even able to do a little witnessing role play in front of the youth group to demonstrate how we could use our retreat T-Shirts as an ice breaker to share the Gospel. Good Stuff.
This last Saturday, (September 9th) we returned to Deep Ellum. After a time of prayer at the pole(a telephone pole on the corner of the street where we park) Luke and I grouped up and set off. Anne and Mark grouped up and will relate their experiences in their own posting.
We passed a few tracts to passerbys in the first few minutes. We always park our car for free on a street that Greg managed to find about a year ago when he first began coming, but it's a couple of blocks away from where the nightlife is. One of the first parking lots on our route is where Tom the parking attendant works. I mentioned Tom in a previous post. Tom has always been friendly and nominally supportive of what we're doing, however tonight he couldn't stop talking about witnessing or how God had been teaching him and showing him so much about how he needed to share his faith. I saw a humility and a heart for God in his conversation and demeanor that I hadn't seen before. He was genuinely impressed that we had been coming out faithfully every week to Deep Ellum and wanted to know how we managed to do this every week and what we did to muster up our courage. He told us how he had seen and heard some material from Way of the Master and now he was really fired up about sharing his faith. He had already tried to do so but was a little discouraged because of not seeing much of a response, and so we encouraged him that the important thing was to just be faithful to God and his Word since results are so often unpredictable. It was so encouraging and refreshing to see Tom so energized for God's glory. Tom lives a couple of miles away from Deep Ellum so I got his address and phone number, and we will plan to go visit with him to fellowship and perhaps watch some of the Way of The Master Episodes with him.
When we reached the main intersection in Deep Ellum, Luke and I were able to have some really good 1 to 1's with people. Luke was talking to about 3 or 4 guys and I joined in the conversation and started talking with two of them. I think their names were Andrew and Brad(?). They were both open to talking about spiritual things. Andrew had studied a number of different religions and Andrew admitted that Christianity had more evidence to back it up than any other religion. We were able to talk about the incredible creation that we see around us, and at one point they asked me what had convinced me that it was true. I was then able to share my testimony with them and talked about how I had grown up in a Christian home but didn't get saved until I was in college, and it was being confronted by Jesus's words along with the Ten Commandments that brought me to repentance. They had to leave to go to a show, but they were both appreciative of our conversation and seemed impacted by my testimony, especially when I was talking about the Ten Commandments.
I saw a lady who appeared as though she was homeless, and gave her a tract. She (Michelle) asked me for some money so that she could pay for the bus fare to get a ride home to Mesquite. I told her that I didn't give away money to people without getting to know them a little bit and if she would be willing to talk to me for 10 minutes, I would help her out. I had to go into a corner store and break a bill, and while in the cornerstore, I ran into Stephanie, who works as a clerk there at the store. I had witnessed to her several weeks ago so I asked her if she had thought any about what we had talked about, and she said no. Keep her in prayer. I went back outside and found Michelle so we sat down on the curb and started talking. Eventually we got to the things of God, and she professed to be a good person, saying that she had never lied and never stolen, even once in her entire life. First person I've ever talked to who has adamantly said they had never done either of those things. However when asked if she had ever hated anyone, she admitted she had and I showed her how God's word said that if you have hatred in your heart, God sees it as murder. That struck a profound chord somewhere, but she had to leave in order to catch her bus, so I gave her some money to pay for the bus, and I quickly told her that, though deserving of God's justice, God had instead re-directed that justice to his Son out of sheer love for her, and provided a means of forgiveness through repentance and faith. She seemed thoughtful as she left.
I handed out tracts to a group of about 4 or 5 guys and one of them said "What's this about?" I responded that it was meant to be entertaining but it also had a serious part, which was the Christian message. Travis appeared annoyed at first, but I drove him on with the good person test, and by the look on his face after it was all explained, he was hit hard. Since there was no justification whatsoever coming out of his mouth, I just began to expound on the love that God had demonstrated to him in the cross, and let me tell you, it's not often that a guy who is with 4 or 5 of his friends looks like he might start crying, but Travis did. I urged him to receive God's unmerited gift of redemption, to repent, and put his faith in Jesus since this would be the most important thing that he could ever do with his life. I didn't want to just lead him in a prayer, because I don't think the impact of God's word on his heart had fully bloomed, but the expression on his face was evidence that his mind and his convicted spirit where in quite a struggle. He needed to leave with his friend shortly after that so we weren't able to talk much more, but your prayers for him would be greatly appreciated. It's so hard not to know the outcome of such a heart rending conversation.
A note on last week, we didn't go to Deep Ellum because Mark, Anne and I were at youth group retreat. (Anne and I are both staff volunteers and Mark is in the group) While at the retreat Mark and I were even able to do a little witnessing role play in front of the youth group to demonstrate how we could use our retreat T-Shirts as an ice breaker to share the Gospel. Good Stuff.
This last Saturday, (September 9th) we returned to Deep Ellum. After a time of prayer at the pole(a telephone pole on the corner of the street where we park) Luke and I grouped up and set off. Anne and Mark grouped up and will relate their experiences in their own posting.
We passed a few tracts to passerbys in the first few minutes. We always park our car for free on a street that Greg managed to find about a year ago when he first began coming, but it's a couple of blocks away from where the nightlife is. One of the first parking lots on our route is where Tom the parking attendant works. I mentioned Tom in a previous post. Tom has always been friendly and nominally supportive of what we're doing, however tonight he couldn't stop talking about witnessing or how God had been teaching him and showing him so much about how he needed to share his faith. I saw a humility and a heart for God in his conversation and demeanor that I hadn't seen before. He was genuinely impressed that we had been coming out faithfully every week to Deep Ellum and wanted to know how we managed to do this every week and what we did to muster up our courage. He told us how he had seen and heard some material from Way of the Master and now he was really fired up about sharing his faith. He had already tried to do so but was a little discouraged because of not seeing much of a response, and so we encouraged him that the important thing was to just be faithful to God and his Word since results are so often unpredictable. It was so encouraging and refreshing to see Tom so energized for God's glory. Tom lives a couple of miles away from Deep Ellum so I got his address and phone number, and we will plan to go visit with him to fellowship and perhaps watch some of the Way of The Master Episodes with him.
When we reached the main intersection in Deep Ellum, Luke and I were able to have some really good 1 to 1's with people. Luke was talking to about 3 or 4 guys and I joined in the conversation and started talking with two of them. I think their names were Andrew and Brad(?). They were both open to talking about spiritual things. Andrew had studied a number of different religions and Andrew admitted that Christianity had more evidence to back it up than any other religion. We were able to talk about the incredible creation that we see around us, and at one point they asked me what had convinced me that it was true. I was then able to share my testimony with them and talked about how I had grown up in a Christian home but didn't get saved until I was in college, and it was being confronted by Jesus's words along with the Ten Commandments that brought me to repentance. They had to leave to go to a show, but they were both appreciative of our conversation and seemed impacted by my testimony, especially when I was talking about the Ten Commandments.
I saw a lady who appeared as though she was homeless, and gave her a tract. She (Michelle) asked me for some money so that she could pay for the bus fare to get a ride home to Mesquite. I told her that I didn't give away money to people without getting to know them a little bit and if she would be willing to talk to me for 10 minutes, I would help her out. I had to go into a corner store and break a bill, and while in the cornerstore, I ran into Stephanie, who works as a clerk there at the store. I had witnessed to her several weeks ago so I asked her if she had thought any about what we had talked about, and she said no. Keep her in prayer. I went back outside and found Michelle so we sat down on the curb and started talking. Eventually we got to the things of God, and she professed to be a good person, saying that she had never lied and never stolen, even once in her entire life. First person I've ever talked to who has adamantly said they had never done either of those things. However when asked if she had ever hated anyone, she admitted she had and I showed her how God's word said that if you have hatred in your heart, God sees it as murder. That struck a profound chord somewhere, but she had to leave in order to catch her bus, so I gave her some money to pay for the bus, and I quickly told her that, though deserving of God's justice, God had instead re-directed that justice to his Son out of sheer love for her, and provided a means of forgiveness through repentance and faith. She seemed thoughtful as she left.
I handed out tracts to a group of about 4 or 5 guys and one of them said "What's this about?" I responded that it was meant to be entertaining but it also had a serious part, which was the Christian message. Travis appeared annoyed at first, but I drove him on with the good person test, and by the look on his face after it was all explained, he was hit hard. Since there was no justification whatsoever coming out of his mouth, I just began to expound on the love that God had demonstrated to him in the cross, and let me tell you, it's not often that a guy who is with 4 or 5 of his friends looks like he might start crying, but Travis did. I urged him to receive God's unmerited gift of redemption, to repent, and put his faith in Jesus since this would be the most important thing that he could ever do with his life. I didn't want to just lead him in a prayer, because I don't think the impact of God's word on his heart had fully bloomed, but the expression on his face was evidence that his mind and his convicted spirit where in quite a struggle. He needed to leave with his friend shortly after that so we weren't able to talk much more, but your prayers for him would be greatly appreciated. It's so hard not to know the outcome of such a heart rending conversation.
- "Cowards never won heaven. Do not claim that you are begotten of God and have His royal blood running in your veins unless you can prove your lineage by this heroic spirit: to dare to be holy in spite of men and devils."
William Gurnall
Monday, August 28, 2006
Anne's Report
Hi
Well Saturday night came and the regular crew (Jason, Luke, Mark, and myself), headed down to Deep Ellum. Frankly, it was a very frustrating night. The devil was definitely working hard against us, not only on the people down there but on myself. It seemed like everyone we talked to was very closed off and unresponsive. Jason and I teamed up and we talked to several people one of whom was named Rene. Jason stopped to talk to her and she asked that we not talk to her because she had had a bad experience with someone that night who tried to talk to her about the Gospel and they were very abrasive, hard, and unkind. It reminds me that the Word of God is like a double-edged sword but that we should speak the Truth in love. I don't know the people who talked to her and whether they were truly abrasive or she was just convicted by the Holy Spirit. Either way it was a good reminder that we represent the Gospel and how we come across to people leaves them with an impression of how Jesus is. That doesn't mean we can be afraid of hurting people's feelings or sugar coating the Truth but that we should speak the Truth in love.
Shalom
Well Saturday night came and the regular crew (Jason, Luke, Mark, and myself), headed down to Deep Ellum. Frankly, it was a very frustrating night. The devil was definitely working hard against us, not only on the people down there but on myself. It seemed like everyone we talked to was very closed off and unresponsive. Jason and I teamed up and we talked to several people one of whom was named Rene. Jason stopped to talk to her and she asked that we not talk to her because she had had a bad experience with someone that night who tried to talk to her about the Gospel and they were very abrasive, hard, and unkind. It reminds me that the Word of God is like a double-edged sword but that we should speak the Truth in love. I don't know the people who talked to her and whether they were truly abrasive or she was just convicted by the Holy Spirit. Either way it was a good reminder that we represent the Gospel and how we come across to people leaves them with an impression of how Jesus is. That doesn't mean we can be afraid of hurting people's feelings or sugar coating the Truth but that we should speak the Truth in love.
Shalom
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Witnessing to Elvis
Jason's Report:
Four of us last night, Mark, Luke, Anne, and I. We were all kind of tired and none of us felt like going. Feelings however, can be quite misleading, as every single time I have gone down dragging my feet, I always come back with something to click my heels about. Tonight was no exception, although it was frustrating at the same time.
Anne and I joined ranks, and Luke and Mark set off together. Many more people on the streets tonight than there were the last couple of weeks. After passing out quite a few tracts, we struck up a conversation with Jacob and Sonny, two guys hanging out in front of one of the tattoo parlours. Jacob didn't seem too keen on the tract that we had given him, but I pressed on and took him through the good person test. He still didn't seem to be all that enthusiastic about the conversation, but a little ways into the conversation he did claim that he was a Christian and that he was born again. Keeping in mind that it's extremely easy to call oneself a Christian in our country, and being convinced from experience that many people that profess Christianity don't actually know God, or they have an idolatrous concept of God, I went on to talk about the essence of what it means to break the second commandment.(Idolatry) The teaching of scripture would be that it's humanity's nature to commit idolatry by shaping a god in our minds (the place of imagery) that we feel comfortable with, a god that has our moral standards, a god in our image, but a god that is not the God of Truth. (Romans 1:18-25). If our concept is in conflict with the God's character and nature, which he has revealed through his Creation, through his word, and through our consciences ( the word conscience means "with knowledge") then there are only two options: We are wrong about what God is like, or the Bible is wrong. The God revealed in the Bible is a God of Justice (Due 32:4), Righteousness (Psalm 111:3), Holiness (1 Samuel 2:2) and Truth (Psalm 119:160) (I didn't have these verses at the time, looked up the scriptures while writing this) How in the world could God change simply because you or I conceive him to be a certain way? Idolatry is just a way to be comfortable with your sin. A golden calf has no moral dictates so when that's your idea of God, you can do what you want. Tragically, it's the oldest sin in the book, and the bible warns that Idolatorers won't inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9, Ephesians 5:5) I think that was laying it on pretty heavy, because he responded with a slight amount of contempt by saying " Do you have any idea what you're talking about?. I cheerfully told him I did (if only because it agrees with the bible) .
Sigh.Sometimes conversations with people who profess to be Christians are the most difficult since it's often where we experience the most opposition when trying to share the biblical gospel. You would think that a Christian would rejoice that the Gospel is being preached, but many whom we talk to that profess to be Christians often have nothing but scathing criticism about the method or the spirit in which it's being done, which runs contrary to what Paul said in Philipians 1:15-18
We also talked to people with the following names. Elvis (hence the title of this post), Rene, Will, Fred, Derrick.
Four of us last night, Mark, Luke, Anne, and I. We were all kind of tired and none of us felt like going. Feelings however, can be quite misleading, as every single time I have gone down dragging my feet, I always come back with something to click my heels about. Tonight was no exception, although it was frustrating at the same time.
Anne and I joined ranks, and Luke and Mark set off together. Many more people on the streets tonight than there were the last couple of weeks. After passing out quite a few tracts, we struck up a conversation with Jacob and Sonny, two guys hanging out in front of one of the tattoo parlours. Jacob didn't seem too keen on the tract that we had given him, but I pressed on and took him through the good person test. He still didn't seem to be all that enthusiastic about the conversation, but a little ways into the conversation he did claim that he was a Christian and that he was born again. Keeping in mind that it's extremely easy to call oneself a Christian in our country, and being convinced from experience that many people that profess Christianity don't actually know God, or they have an idolatrous concept of God, I went on to talk about the essence of what it means to break the second commandment.(Idolatry) The teaching of scripture would be that it's humanity's nature to commit idolatry by shaping a god in our minds (the place of imagery) that we feel comfortable with, a god that has our moral standards, a god in our image, but a god that is not the God of Truth. (Romans 1:18-25). If our concept is in conflict with the God's character and nature, which he has revealed through his Creation, through his word, and through our consciences ( the word conscience means "with knowledge") then there are only two options: We are wrong about what God is like, or the Bible is wrong. The God revealed in the Bible is a God of Justice (Due 32:4), Righteousness (Psalm 111:3), Holiness (1 Samuel 2:2) and Truth (Psalm 119:160) (I didn't have these verses at the time, looked up the scriptures while writing this) How in the world could God change simply because you or I conceive him to be a certain way? Idolatry is just a way to be comfortable with your sin. A golden calf has no moral dictates so when that's your idea of God, you can do what you want. Tragically, it's the oldest sin in the book, and the bible warns that Idolatorers won't inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9, Ephesians 5:5) I think that was laying it on pretty heavy, because he responded with a slight amount of contempt by saying " Do you have any idea what you're talking about?. I cheerfully told him I did (if only because it agrees with the bible) .
Sigh.Sometimes conversations with people who profess to be Christians are the most difficult since it's often where we experience the most opposition when trying to share the biblical gospel. You would think that a Christian would rejoice that the Gospel is being preached, but many whom we talk to that profess to be Christians often have nothing but scathing criticism about the method or the spirit in which it's being done, which runs contrary to what Paul said in Philipians 1:15-18
Phi 1:15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will.Even if we were preaching Christ for the wrong motive, according to Paul, just the fact that Christ is preached is occasion to rejoice, yet so many in deep ellum who profess to be Christians don't see it that way. That's where saturating our points with scripture can be so effective, especially with someone who is making the claim that the're a Christian. I often see two reactions to this. Either the person becomes really agitated or critical of what you're saying (convicted perhaps?) , or the word of God begins to really command their respect. I believe the latter was the case with Jacob at the end of the conversation. Please pray for him, since it was really hard to discern what the sate of his heart really was. "For out of the mouth speaks the abundance of the heart." (Matt 12:34)
Phi 1:16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.
Phi 1:17 The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.
Phi 1:18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,
We also talked to people with the following names. Elvis (hence the title of this post), Rene, Will, Fred, Derrick.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Verbose Religiosity
Report from Jason:
Deep Ellum wasn't nearly as busy as normal. Just three of us tonight, Mark, Dorothy, and myself. Dorothy is from Germany and was here in Dallas as a foreign exchange student a couple of years ago, and she's been back to visit this summer. She went out with us a couple of weeks ago, and wanted to come again before she returned to Germany.
Last week on the drive back from Deep Ellum we had a discussion about what being led by the spirit means. One of the main points of discussion was, how much a person should be led by the spirit when witnessing or sharing the Gospel? Before we set out on the streets we always stop to pray and ask God to give us boldness and courage and trust that he'll be with us to lead us to the specific people that he wants us to talk to. You see, I don't very often experience a situation where I see a person on the street and I feel aware of a distinct impression that God wants me to go talk to that person. My assumption is that everyone needs to hear and understand the truth, and so I operate off that assumption, and trust that God will honor the faithful sharing of his word. I assume this because one of the fundamental doctrines of orthodox Christianity is that the Spirit of God isn't going to contradict the scriptures, and with that in mind I read Matthew 16:15 and it tells me, "Go into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every creature." This is a very straightforward statement. You could say, "Well, but Jesus was talking to his 11 disciples at the time," BUT, if we claim the name of Christ, then WE ARE ALSO his disciples. The word "Christian" is just a name that people eventually started using to refer to anyone who was a disciple of Christ. (See Acts 11:26) Mark Cahill puts it best: "If they're breathing, they need Jesus."
That still leaves the question when witnessing to someone. How much is the spirit of God involved in the matter, and futhermore, how much will we or should we tangibly perceive the spirit of God's involvement or prompting? When we had our prayertime before we set out last night, I kept some of those questions in mind and asked God to demonstrate his faithfulness by using his spirit to guide us and prompt us, and impress us to say something off the wall if necessary, so that we could see evidence of his faithfulness.
Usually we split up into groups of two, but since there were only three of us, one of whom was a girl, we all stuck together. Mark got in several conversations right away, so Dorothy and I mostly passed out tracts (e.g. 1, 2) while we waited for him. I passed out a tract to (Brandon?) and immediately he told us that he was a pastors kid and he knew he shouldn't be out in Deep Ellum that night. I told him that we were also out in Deep Ellum and the important thing was our reason and motive for being there. He was so affected by our small act of giving him a tract that he thanked us several times with this stricken look on his face, as if God had been prompting his conscience all night and all we had to do was give him a tract at the just the right time to complete the process of the holy spirit breaking him down. Pray for Brandon
While Dorothy and I were standing passing out tracts, a fairly large guy dressed in black with slicked back hair walked right up to us and asked us what we were passing out. He was the bouncer for the club that we were near and was concerned that we might be passing out literature about another club and stealing their customers cheerfully told him that it was a gospel tract and placed one firmly in his hand. As soon as he found out that we weren't out to steal his customers he walked away satisfied, unfortunately before I could initiate a conversation, but still with the tract in his hand.
That's when the people we talked to started to get weird. We encountered some people who were quite "religious", and QUITE talkative. The first one was Alan. Alan was a black fellow who was by himself leaning up against a tree on the street, so I popped up in front of him and asked him if he wanted to see a magic trick and held up the curved illusion tract. His enthusiasm about seeing the trick left something to be desired, but I preceded anyway and he was mildly entertained by the optical illusion. Alan considered himself to be a good person, so I started questioning him with the good person test. Right about the point where I asked him if he would be innocent or guilty before God if were he to stand before him on judgment day, Alan immediately began to steer the conversation away from that topic and onto Dorothy and I. He began spouting this nonsensical theory about Adam and Eve and the interrelationship between Man and Woman and how woman could perceive and see things that man couldn't, and because of that Dorothy was "Wisdom" and I was "Knowledge" and a lot of other really far out wacky things. I'm finding it difficult to recall the gist of what he was trying to say now, since Dorothy and I were and still are at a loss as to what exactly he was going on about. It was very difficult to get a word in edgewise, since he kept asking us questions and didn't give us a chance to question his incredibly convoluted premise. I kept trying to swing the conversation back to his responsibility before God, and at one point he told me that I just didn't give up and that I was a fighter, so apparently he was hearing some of what we were saying, but we were unable to really get a dialogue with him after that point. He didn't claim to specifically be a Christian, but he mentioned God's forgiveness several times and claimed to be forgiven by God, but we could sense his unwillingness to discuss that with us, since that was "between him and God". Apparently our tenacity in sticking with the guy through all his incomprehensible religious philosophizing won his respect because he FINALLY wanted to hear the rest of the explanation of the Gospel and the analogy I had started about a good judge in a human court being bound by the law to do justice, but, unfortunately some of his friends arrived right at that moment and ruined any further chance to continue explaining what it was all about. I believe Alan was under the influence of alcohol, and so were his friends that arrived, and the whole conversation made me think of this verse from proverbs. "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has fighting? Who has babbling? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long at the wine, those who seek mixed wine. Proverbs 23:29-30. Pray for Alan, he did keep the tract(s) that we gave him.
Then there was Raymond. Raymond saw us handing out tracts and decided it was his duty to ensure that we had the "anointing" to be out witnessing on the street. He reminded me of some of the televangelists that you see all the time on T.V, yet he had a sense of sincerity about him that the majority of televangelists lack. Raymond monopolized the time to tell us everything he had learned about how necessary "the anointing" was and how your your witnessing would fail without it. I suspect he initially thought that we were just some kids out doing our duty for our church and not necessarily really all that committed. As the conversation wore on and we kept agreeing with him (at least with the things he was saying that were clearly scriptural), I think he realized that we esteemed God's Word above anything that he was telling us. Then he calmed down a little bit and the one-way conversation became more of a dialouge.
In addition to the anointing, Raymond was very much into prophecy and so he had something of a "prophecy" for each of us. This was how his "prophecy" for me went.
On our way back to the Car, a guy approached us and just began to pour out his heart. Apparently he could tell we Christians, he must have seen the tracts in our hands. His name was Terry and the way he spoke indicated that he was under so much conviction about his sin. He had been drinking at the time, as indicated in his eyes. He asked us to pray for him and then walked with us all the way back to our car. The best comparison to describe him would be to liken him to the Tax Collecter in Jesus' Parable of the Tax Collecter and the Pharisee. (See below)
Deep Ellum wasn't nearly as busy as normal. Just three of us tonight, Mark, Dorothy, and myself. Dorothy is from Germany and was here in Dallas as a foreign exchange student a couple of years ago, and she's been back to visit this summer. She went out with us a couple of weeks ago, and wanted to come again before she returned to Germany.
Last week on the drive back from Deep Ellum we had a discussion about what being led by the spirit means. One of the main points of discussion was, how much a person should be led by the spirit when witnessing or sharing the Gospel? Before we set out on the streets we always stop to pray and ask God to give us boldness and courage and trust that he'll be with us to lead us to the specific people that he wants us to talk to. You see, I don't very often experience a situation where I see a person on the street and I feel aware of a distinct impression that God wants me to go talk to that person. My assumption is that everyone needs to hear and understand the truth, and so I operate off that assumption, and trust that God will honor the faithful sharing of his word. I assume this because one of the fundamental doctrines of orthodox Christianity is that the Spirit of God isn't going to contradict the scriptures, and with that in mind I read Matthew 16:15 and it tells me, "Go into all the World and Preach the Gospel to every creature." This is a very straightforward statement. You could say, "Well, but Jesus was talking to his 11 disciples at the time," BUT, if we claim the name of Christ, then WE ARE ALSO his disciples. The word "Christian" is just a name that people eventually started using to refer to anyone who was a disciple of Christ. (See Acts 11:26) Mark Cahill puts it best: "If they're breathing, they need Jesus."
That still leaves the question when witnessing to someone. How much is the spirit of God involved in the matter, and futhermore, how much will we or should we tangibly perceive the spirit of God's involvement or prompting? When we had our prayertime before we set out last night, I kept some of those questions in mind and asked God to demonstrate his faithfulness by using his spirit to guide us and prompt us, and impress us to say something off the wall if necessary, so that we could see evidence of his faithfulness.
Usually we split up into groups of two, but since there were only three of us, one of whom was a girl, we all stuck together. Mark got in several conversations right away, so Dorothy and I mostly passed out tracts (e.g. 1, 2) while we waited for him. I passed out a tract to (Brandon?) and immediately he told us that he was a pastors kid and he knew he shouldn't be out in Deep Ellum that night. I told him that we were also out in Deep Ellum and the important thing was our reason and motive for being there. He was so affected by our small act of giving him a tract that he thanked us several times with this stricken look on his face, as if God had been prompting his conscience all night and all we had to do was give him a tract at the just the right time to complete the process of the holy spirit breaking him down. Pray for Brandon
While Dorothy and I were standing passing out tracts, a fairly large guy dressed in black with slicked back hair walked right up to us and asked us what we were passing out. He was the bouncer for the club that we were near and was concerned that we might be passing out literature about another club and stealing their customers cheerfully told him that it was a gospel tract and placed one firmly in his hand. As soon as he found out that we weren't out to steal his customers he walked away satisfied, unfortunately before I could initiate a conversation, but still with the tract in his hand.
That's when the people we talked to started to get weird. We encountered some people who were quite "religious", and QUITE talkative. The first one was Alan. Alan was a black fellow who was by himself leaning up against a tree on the street, so I popped up in front of him and asked him if he wanted to see a magic trick and held up the curved illusion tract. His enthusiasm about seeing the trick left something to be desired, but I preceded anyway and he was mildly entertained by the optical illusion. Alan considered himself to be a good person, so I started questioning him with the good person test. Right about the point where I asked him if he would be innocent or guilty before God if were he to stand before him on judgment day, Alan immediately began to steer the conversation away from that topic and onto Dorothy and I. He began spouting this nonsensical theory about Adam and Eve and the interrelationship between Man and Woman and how woman could perceive and see things that man couldn't, and because of that Dorothy was "Wisdom" and I was "Knowledge" and a lot of other really far out wacky things. I'm finding it difficult to recall the gist of what he was trying to say now, since Dorothy and I were and still are at a loss as to what exactly he was going on about. It was very difficult to get a word in edgewise, since he kept asking us questions and didn't give us a chance to question his incredibly convoluted premise. I kept trying to swing the conversation back to his responsibility before God, and at one point he told me that I just didn't give up and that I was a fighter, so apparently he was hearing some of what we were saying, but we were unable to really get a dialogue with him after that point. He didn't claim to specifically be a Christian, but he mentioned God's forgiveness several times and claimed to be forgiven by God, but we could sense his unwillingness to discuss that with us, since that was "between him and God". Apparently our tenacity in sticking with the guy through all his incomprehensible religious philosophizing won his respect because he FINALLY wanted to hear the rest of the explanation of the Gospel and the analogy I had started about a good judge in a human court being bound by the law to do justice, but, unfortunately some of his friends arrived right at that moment and ruined any further chance to continue explaining what it was all about. I believe Alan was under the influence of alcohol, and so were his friends that arrived, and the whole conversation made me think of this verse from proverbs. "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has fighting? Who has babbling? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long at the wine, those who seek mixed wine. Proverbs 23:29-30. Pray for Alan, he did keep the tract(s) that we gave him.
Then there was Raymond. Raymond saw us handing out tracts and decided it was his duty to ensure that we had the "anointing" to be out witnessing on the street. He reminded me of some of the televangelists that you see all the time on T.V, yet he had a sense of sincerity about him that the majority of televangelists lack. Raymond monopolized the time to tell us everything he had learned about how necessary "the anointing" was and how your your witnessing would fail without it. I suspect he initially thought that we were just some kids out doing our duty for our church and not necessarily really all that committed. As the conversation wore on and we kept agreeing with him (at least with the things he was saying that were clearly scriptural), I think he realized that we esteemed God's Word above anything that he was telling us. Then he calmed down a little bit and the one-way conversation became more of a dialouge.
In addition to the anointing, Raymond was very much into prophecy and so he had something of a "prophecy" for each of us. This was how his "prophecy" for me went.
RAYMOND: You've had thoughts about becoming a pastor recently, you know that you're going to be a pastor don't you.Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that God doesn't have a plan for me to a pastor. All of my delighting in him just hasn't produced that desire yet. (Psalm 37:4) Perhaps I'm just jaded by all the of-the-wall "prophesies" coming from Tel-evangelists. Or perhaps what I understand from scripture presents the idea that in order to be a true prophet who speaks on behalf of God, the things you prophesy MUST come to pass. Otherwise it's plain you're not speaking on behalf of God, and under OT Law there was a severe pentalty for falsely speaking a word in God's name. (See Duet. 18:20-22 below)
ME: Actually that's not something I've put a great deal of thought into, and I wouldn't say that I've ever really actively considered it.
RAYMOND: Err...But the thought has crossed your mind, right?
ME: I suppose it could have
RAYMOND: I can see that you're going to be a pastor.
ME: Oh..OK...Well if that really is God's desire then he'll certainly open the doors to make it happen.
Deu 18:20 But the prophet who shall presume to speak a word in My name which I have not commanded him to speak or who shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.But back to the report. By this point it was getting to be quite late, so in order to close out our conversation with Raymond, Mark asked him if he wanted to have some of our tracts, since OUR main purpose for being there was to be witnessing. Generally with the long-winded relgious types, we've found it often helps determine whether their heart is where their mouth is by offering them tracts and/or asking if they would like to join us in sharing the gospel. After all, if they've got all this time to talk to us, then surely have the time to share the gospel with someone. :) Their response to that offer gives us a good idea of how concerned they are for the lost and how willing they are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus to seek that which is lost. Raymond did take the tracts from us, which was a good sign, and before we left we all prayed together. Please pray for him, he is a Katrina Evacuee and is on his way back to Lousiana to return to his home and his sister (who is already there.)
Deu 18:21 And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah has not spoken?
Deu 18:22 When a prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah, if the thing does not follow nor come to pass, that is the thing which Jehovah has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.
On our way back to the Car, a guy approached us and just began to pour out his heart. Apparently he could tell we Christians, he must have seen the tracts in our hands. His name was Terry and the way he spoke indicated that he was under so much conviction about his sin. He had been drinking at the time, as indicated in his eyes. He asked us to pray for him and then walked with us all the way back to our car. The best comparison to describe him would be to liken him to the Tax Collecter in Jesus' Parable of the Tax Collecter and the Pharisee. (See below)
Luk 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-collector.Until next week.....
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed within himself in this way: God, I thank You that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice on the Sabbath, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13 And standing afar off, the tax-collector would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, but struck on his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner!
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Jason's Report:
Mark and I started off by having our weekly chat with Tom, one of the parking attendants in Deep Ellum. He is a Christian and he shared with us a great story about God's provision. Earlier this week he didn't know how he was going to be able to afford gas because most of his income is currently going to pay off some debts. A day or two ago a friend just randomly showed up at his door and offered to fill his car and pay for half of it, (i.e. a$1.5o a gallon for gas). The friend had no previous knowledge of Tom's financial situation nor that Tom wouldn't have been able to afford a full tank of gas. (Which he desperately needed) Tom was beaming as he shared God's provision with us. Mark and I were, of course, greatly encouraged by this.
We stopped outside of a restuarant to talk to a guy and his friend David. I gave them some tracts and used the optical illusion tract to strike up a conversation. It became apparent that David was a Christian (or professed to be - he had a beer in his hand and I couldn't tell if he was partly drunk. Whenever people I talk to people who profess to be Christians, I've learned to withold judgement, because often later in a conversation a person will let off a string of profanities when we start talking about sticky things like the ten commandments, or they'll intently oogle every scantily clad female that walks by during our conversation without any qualms of conscience at all, which isn't strong evidence that God is living in them.) David was, however, extremely receptive to what we had to say, and agreed with just about everything we said, and all the scriptures that we shared. He acknowledged the need for a Christian to share their faith as much as possible, and mentioned that he shared his faith with all his friends. The guy with David had to leave in middle of our conversation but I managed to get several tracts in his hand and took him most of the way through the good person test.
I approached Stephanie, a girl who was sitting outside of one of the novelty shops and started up a conversation with her using the curved illusion tract. The tract really broke the ice and then she agreed to go through the good person test. She answered yes to the four questions I asked her (Have you ever told a lie, have you ever stolen something, have you ever looked with lust and committed adultry in your heart, taken God's name in vain and hence admitted to be a liar, theif, adulterer, and blasphemer according to God's standards.) Stephanie had strong convictions against stealing from someone she knew, but had no qualms about stealing from a store where no one was directed affected personally. I reasoned with her about God being a righteous judge and used the analogy of her standing before a good judge who was bound by the law to inflict the punishment the law demanded, which really made sense to her. She seemed somewhat relucant to talk more after going through the Ten Commandments but when I described what Jesus had done for her, comparing him to a friend who had come into her trial and sacrificed everything he had in order to pay her fine, her demeanor changed and I noticed that her eyes were beginning to become teary eyed and when I asked if what I had said made sense and if she understood. I encouraged her to read the Bible and see if it backed up the truth of what I was saying.
The most incredible conversation of the night was with Jamal and D'shane (I think that's his name, but we'll just call him "D"). They were sitting at the side of the street just hanging out so I approached them with the curved illusion tract which was a big hit which allowed me to get into a great conversation. I made the point that our senses and our eyes can be fooled by little things like optical illusions, but none of us want to be decieved about big important things, such as what happened after we die, to which they agreed. I discussed with them how the scriptures talked about mankind being deceived, and how so many people believe that they are good enough to go to heaven or good enough to earn God's favor, and then went right into the Ten Comandments and the good person test to show them that as Scripture says, "there is none good, not one" and that Jesus was the only perfect sacrifice to pay for their sins. It's an apt descritption that the eye is the window to the soul because the change in D's eyes halfway through the conversation conveyed that the Holy Spirit was using our words to have a deeply profound impact on him. A person's eyes can convey so much of the temperment of their heart. Often when I' witness to people and conviction sets in on the person, they start to divert their eyes as much as possible because their conscience is shouting at them and it makes them uncomfortablebeing that vulnerable. I can often sense, however, that something is happening in addition to conviction when their eyes lock on to every word you're saying and they convey in a way that can't be described with words, that they're really stricken and sobered by the truths that you're presenting. (the more scripture I use, the the more often this happens ). D seemed so humbled by what we were saying and when we offerred to pray for him, he was more than willing to comply. I just poured out my heart right there on the street for God to reveal himself to D that night and grant repentance and change D to make him a new person in Christ. Please pray for him!
Mark and I also talked to two black guys, one of whom had quite an extensive Christian background (Baptist) . We actually got in this conversation somewhat by accident, since just prior, Mark had been across the street from me talking to some people near a couple of the clubs that were blaring realy loud music . When we re- joined ranks he was describing to me how he had to basically shout at the people he was talking to because of the music was so loud. He then imitated how loud his voice had to be. This distracted the two black guys in front of us, who thought Mark was shouting at them. I guess we figured they might already be mad at us so we hurried to catch up to them, quickly apologized saying we weren't shouting at them, and then asked if they wanted to see a magic trick, which they did. I showed them the curved illusion tract, and they loved it, so then I brought up Christianity by asking if they had a Christian background, and this opened up the opportunity for us to share for about 5-10 minutes with them. The one who had an extensive Christian background was familiar with all the scripture that I mentioned, and he told me flat out that he knew it but was not living it at all. It was like he knew the truth, but woudln't come to terms that the truth really could and would set him free from his sins. He was very open to everything we said, I think God had done ALOT of sowing in his life, since he certainly had a certain amount of respect for the word of God. I encouraged him as much as I could to sell out all to God, since he agreed and admitted to us that he was in the luke-warm category. Iterestingly enough God put him in our path because we passed him on the street about 3 more times during the night.
Wow. What a wonderful night, I'm really in awe of God's faithfulnness. Thanks for praying!
Mark and I started off by having our weekly chat with Tom, one of the parking attendants in Deep Ellum. He is a Christian and he shared with us a great story about God's provision. Earlier this week he didn't know how he was going to be able to afford gas because most of his income is currently going to pay off some debts. A day or two ago a friend just randomly showed up at his door and offered to fill his car and pay for half of it, (i.e. a$1.5o a gallon for gas). The friend had no previous knowledge of Tom's financial situation nor that Tom wouldn't have been able to afford a full tank of gas. (Which he desperately needed) Tom was beaming as he shared God's provision with us. Mark and I were, of course, greatly encouraged by this.
We stopped outside of a restuarant to talk to a guy and his friend David. I gave them some tracts and used the optical illusion tract to strike up a conversation. It became apparent that David was a Christian (or professed to be - he had a beer in his hand and I couldn't tell if he was partly drunk. Whenever people I talk to people who profess to be Christians, I've learned to withold judgement, because often later in a conversation a person will let off a string of profanities when we start talking about sticky things like the ten commandments, or they'll intently oogle every scantily clad female that walks by during our conversation without any qualms of conscience at all, which isn't strong evidence that God is living in them.) David was, however, extremely receptive to what we had to say, and agreed with just about everything we said, and all the scriptures that we shared. He acknowledged the need for a Christian to share their faith as much as possible, and mentioned that he shared his faith with all his friends. The guy with David had to leave in middle of our conversation but I managed to get several tracts in his hand and took him most of the way through the good person test.
I approached Stephanie, a girl who was sitting outside of one of the novelty shops and started up a conversation with her using the curved illusion tract. The tract really broke the ice and then she agreed to go through the good person test. She answered yes to the four questions I asked her (Have you ever told a lie, have you ever stolen something, have you ever looked with lust and committed adultry in your heart, taken God's name in vain and hence admitted to be a liar, theif, adulterer, and blasphemer according to God's standards.) Stephanie had strong convictions against stealing from someone she knew, but had no qualms about stealing from a store where no one was directed affected personally. I reasoned with her about God being a righteous judge and used the analogy of her standing before a good judge who was bound by the law to inflict the punishment the law demanded, which really made sense to her. She seemed somewhat relucant to talk more after going through the Ten Commandments but when I described what Jesus had done for her, comparing him to a friend who had come into her trial and sacrificed everything he had in order to pay her fine, her demeanor changed and I noticed that her eyes were beginning to become teary eyed and when I asked if what I had said made sense and if she understood. I encouraged her to read the Bible and see if it backed up the truth of what I was saying.
The most incredible conversation of the night was with Jamal and D'shane (I think that's his name, but we'll just call him "D"). They were sitting at the side of the street just hanging out so I approached them with the curved illusion tract which was a big hit which allowed me to get into a great conversation. I made the point that our senses and our eyes can be fooled by little things like optical illusions, but none of us want to be decieved about big important things, such as what happened after we die, to which they agreed. I discussed with them how the scriptures talked about mankind being deceived, and how so many people believe that they are good enough to go to heaven or good enough to earn God's favor, and then went right into the Ten Comandments and the good person test to show them that as Scripture says, "there is none good, not one" and that Jesus was the only perfect sacrifice to pay for their sins. It's an apt descritption that the eye is the window to the soul because the change in D's eyes halfway through the conversation conveyed that the Holy Spirit was using our words to have a deeply profound impact on him. A person's eyes can convey so much of the temperment of their heart. Often when I' witness to people and conviction sets in on the person, they start to divert their eyes as much as possible because their conscience is shouting at them and it makes them uncomfortablebeing that vulnerable. I can often sense, however, that something is happening in addition to conviction when their eyes lock on to every word you're saying and they convey in a way that can't be described with words, that they're really stricken and sobered by the truths that you're presenting. (the more scripture I use, the the more often this happens ). D seemed so humbled by what we were saying and when we offerred to pray for him, he was more than willing to comply. I just poured out my heart right there on the street for God to reveal himself to D that night and grant repentance and change D to make him a new person in Christ. Please pray for him!
Mark and I also talked to two black guys, one of whom had quite an extensive Christian background (Baptist) . We actually got in this conversation somewhat by accident, since just prior, Mark had been across the street from me talking to some people near a couple of the clubs that were blaring realy loud music . When we re- joined ranks he was describing to me how he had to basically shout at the people he was talking to because of the music was so loud. He then imitated how loud his voice had to be. This distracted the two black guys in front of us, who thought Mark was shouting at them. I guess we figured they might already be mad at us so we hurried to catch up to them, quickly apologized saying we weren't shouting at them, and then asked if they wanted to see a magic trick, which they did. I showed them the curved illusion tract, and they loved it, so then I brought up Christianity by asking if they had a Christian background, and this opened up the opportunity for us to share for about 5-10 minutes with them. The one who had an extensive Christian background was familiar with all the scripture that I mentioned, and he told me flat out that he knew it but was not living it at all. It was like he knew the truth, but woudln't come to terms that the truth really could and would set him free from his sins. He was very open to everything we said, I think God had done ALOT of sowing in his life, since he certainly had a certain amount of respect for the word of God. I encouraged him as much as I could to sell out all to God, since he agreed and admitted to us that he was in the luke-warm category. Iterestingly enough God put him in our path because we passed him on the street about 3 more times during the night.
Wow. What a wonderful night, I'm really in awe of God's faithfulnness. Thanks for praying!
Hi! We are Gregg, Jason, Anne, Luke, and Mark. Every weekend we go down to Deep Ellum, in downtown Dallas, to witness and share our faith on the streets. The purpose of this blog is to journal our experiences so that you, our brothers and sisters in Christ, can pray for the people that we interact with each week. May this blog and the work that He has called us to do honor and glorify God.
Anne's Report:
Last night we went out around 11:30PM, prayed, and set out down the streets of Deep Ellum two by two. Luke and I paired up and Jason and Mark paired up. Every week we talk to multiple people but there's always that one person that God sends your way who makes the whole night worth while. Last night that person was Peter. He is 21 and a Jew from Russia. Peter and a group of friends were hanging out and Luke and I stopped to give them tracts. We waited while they read them and Luke started talking to some of the guys while Peter asked me a question about the tract. We began to talk and soon Luke joined the conversation. Peter was very open and we talked for about a half an hour. He seemed convicted and at the end of the conversation I asked him what he was thinking. Peter replied that he has recently had multiple people in his life talk to him about God, such as a fellow soldier during basic training, a coworker, and now us. I responded that I did not think that it was a coincedence to which he quietly and thoughtful replied "yeah". It was a great conversation and I could see God working in his heart and wooing him. Please pray for Peter that God will continue wooing him and that Peter will soon become part of the family.
Anne's Report:
Last night we went out around 11:30PM, prayed, and set out down the streets of Deep Ellum two by two. Luke and I paired up and Jason and Mark paired up. Every week we talk to multiple people but there's always that one person that God sends your way who makes the whole night worth while. Last night that person was Peter. He is 21 and a Jew from Russia. Peter and a group of friends were hanging out and Luke and I stopped to give them tracts. We waited while they read them and Luke started talking to some of the guys while Peter asked me a question about the tract. We began to talk and soon Luke joined the conversation. Peter was very open and we talked for about a half an hour. He seemed convicted and at the end of the conversation I asked him what he was thinking. Peter replied that he has recently had multiple people in his life talk to him about God, such as a fellow soldier during basic training, a coworker, and now us. I responded that I did not think that it was a coincedence to which he quietly and thoughtful replied "yeah". It was a great conversation and I could see God working in his heart and wooing him. Please pray for Peter that God will continue wooing him and that Peter will soon become part of the family.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Welcome to the Streetlight Ministries blog! Join us from week to week as we share our experiences from the streets of Deep Ellum, illuminating hearts and minds to the true Light of the World.Mat 10:27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
Joh 8:12 Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
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