It was a good, but short night. For some reason only 1 lane of I-30 was open so we sat in traffic for a good half an hour on the way down to Deep Ellum. Deep Ellum seemed a little dead, although there was a big crowd at one of the clubs.
*Anne, Dara, Daniel, and Jason*
Dara went with Anne, Daniel, and Jason. Dara has come once or twice in the past so she has a little familiarity with Deep Ellum. She and Anne were able to talk to a Pantheist name Jose. Here’s a summary of what he believed. He was a pantheist so he believed that everyone and everything is God. His beliefs were really conflicting, because he said that we’re all Gods, and Jesus, Mohammad, and Buddha were all good examples. The path to spiritual enlightenment was to feel less and less guilt. And Jesus was a good example of how to love. (Comment from Luke : If we’re all Gods, why does it matter if we feel guilt or not? Isn’t God the highest being that there is?). Hell to him was when we feel bad and our conscience is bothering us. (No afterlife, just re-incarnation) . So once you’re like Jesus (or one of the other good religious teachers) you have heaven on earth. To him, Jesus wasn’t really a person, but an entity. One of the biggest influences in his spiritual journey was his gay friend, who was the person “the most like Jesus” he had ever met. Anne asked him if he had a Bible, and he said no. He had a small amount of familiarity with the Bible, but said he got confused when he read it. So Anne gave him hers, and told him to read the red-lettered portions because those were the words of Jesus and he could find out what Jesus REALLY said and what he was REALLY like. (and not based on his gay friend). All in all, they talked to Jose about 40 minutes. Near the end of the conversation they asked if they could pray for him.
Jason and Daniel started a conversation with a couple of guys, but the guys had to leave halfway through it. There were not as many people down in Deep Ellum this week as some other weeks so neither of them got into any big conversations. Since Jason and Daniel went with Dara and Anne, they stayed in the vicinity while Dara and Anne were talking to Jose. They Handed out lots of tracts and got in some brief conversations. We trust that some good some good seeds have been planted.
*Spenser, Mrs Maclean, and Elizabeth *
Spenser had a great night handing out tracks and encouraging the recipients to read them. When his group, which consisted of Mrs MacLean, Elizabeth, and himself, would happen upon the unfortunate soul who would stop to talk to them, Spenser gave the Evangelism questionnaire. This questionnaire consists of two questions: “If you were to die today, would you go to heaven, or is that something that you are still working on?” and “If God were to ask you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven,’ what would you say?” They encountered three girls while they were walking down the street, one of whom lagged behind, so they picked her off. As they went through the evangelism explosion presentation, the girl understood that she was trusting in herself, but she didn’t pray the prayer of salvation because she had to catch up with her friends. Lizzie described her as more interested in the cares of this life than spiritual things, and that she was trying to act cool, and acting like she really wasn’t interested. They also talked to a couple of guys who were both raised in the church, but had developed their own sense of truth and of God. They didn’t want the tract because they were environmentalists and didn’t want the paper to be wasted on them because they would just throw it away. When confronted with sin, they were offended and felt as though they had been judged, so they ended up walking away. At that point, one of the guy’s girlfriends walked up and was very engaged in the conversation, and had questions that she genuinely wanted to know the answers to. Elizabeth was able to ask some questions to this lady, and actually engage her in conversation. (Yay Elizabeth!) Though the lady was a catholic, she had given up on the Catholic faith and instead had a “multifaceted” view of entrance into heaven. (All paths to heaven are valid.) Finally, in their last conversation on the way back to the Car, they encountered two young men that were high, who said they they were good people and had kept the Ten Commandments.
*Joel, Andrew, and Mark*
The night for Mark’s group started off with a bang after trying to talk to one guy, who flat out rejected the Gospel. Mark then talked to a Buddhist. The Buddhist guy respected Christianity and thought Jesus was a very good guy. However, Mark surmised that the Buddhist was very very confused in his beliefs. While Mark was talking to the Buddhist, Joel and Andrew were talking to a guy named James. James professed to be a Christian, but he had “got into drugs, and left God.” He wanted to come back to God but he doesn’t know how. James said he would e-mail Joel with more questions that he has. Joel described the whole night with the phrase “made me feel good inside." They also tried witnessing at Club One but they got the standard, “Now is not the time for us to hear the gospel” response. Mark saw the police Officer who had told him a few weeks ago that he needed a “religious permit” to be able to hand out tracts or share his faith. Mark wished him a happy Thanksgiving :) .
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Monday, November 05, 2007
A night of fishing
***Jason***
New people on the team tonight. I was staying with Joel Roberts for the weekend because his parents were out of town so he came, along with Joel Woodward who was spending the night at J.R.’s house. My current housemate Johnny, also came. There were 7 of us altogether.
We split up into teams, I went with the 2 Joels.
We met a guy who was wheeling a trash can down the street. Gave him a tract “You are here” (http://www.livingwaters.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=254 ) but he didn’t speak much English. He was originally from Mexico. Only able to talk to him briefly (in some rusty Spanish) because he said he had to work.
Skull Cane Man
Stopped and talked to a guy who was sitting outside one of the clothing Shops in one of those little foldout chairs.. Had a cane with him that had a skull on the end so I asked him why he chose that cane with the skull on it when he was “cane” shopping.. I think he said he liked skulls or something. After some small talk and finding out a little bit about him (He works as a web designer, has a family with two teenage girls. He was sitting outside the clothing shop cause his friend worked there, and he was also working on their website, and He went to a Catholic school when he was young.) I asked him what he thought was out there waiting for us after we die. Said he wasn’t sure, so I asked if he had any leanings toward anything. Said he had been studying some world religions, look at re-incarnation, etc. He said he believed in Heaven and Hell, but somehow everyone ended up going to heaven and he was going because God is forgiving. (He was really stuck on this idea for most of our conversation) Then he asked what I BELIEVED (with genuine interest) , so I explained what I believe (without using anything from the bible at that point), that there was a God because of creation, that in exploring world’s religions Christianity made extraordinary claims that no other religion made, that a personal God would by nature care about justice and righting the evil in the world even more than Man would, etc. Eventually asked him if he thought he was a good person and once he said he was, what he thought “Good” was. We went through the Ten Commandments, and he admitted to being a Liar, a Thief, an Adulterer and a Murder at heart according to God’s standards. He still thought he would go to Heaven if God judged him because God would forgive, so brought the analogy over to civil Law to demonstrate that a Good judge would not let Sin go unpunished. Explained that if the Bible was true and reliable, and there was stacks upon stacks upon stacks of evidence that it was, that God would not let the guilty go unpunished and that the Bible said that without the Shedding of Blood, there was NO remission of Sins. Said that this should make sense to us, even without the Bible’s testimony, because our conscience wouldn’t be able to get around it. Described how God took Sin incredibly seriously, demonstrated by the severity of the consequences that have come and will come to those have sinned and remain in their Sin to the point that they die in their sin. James (His name) became real quiet and couldn’t really look me in the eye at that point. He had to help close the clothing shop at that point, but I thanked him for talking and told him to check out for himself if what I was saying was true. (One the things he said was that the Bible had been corrupted and changed by Men. ) Praise God that a seed was planted and pray that God might cause it to grow.
Homeless Donna
A homeless Lady named Donna stopped us on the street and asked us for some money because she hadn’t eaten in a long time. None of us had any cash on us. She pleaded with us, and I told her that I was telling the truth that I didn’t have any cash on me, but If there was an ATM around, I could help her. There was a 7-11 around the corner so we went there. Her story was pretty tragic (She had been married with kids, her husband had left her, then she got re-married but that husband left her and took everything, and she became homeless because she didn’t know how to do anything besides be a housewife.) I bought her a hot dog and water, and while she was munching on that we talked a bit. I told her that we were Christians which is why we down there, to share the gospel. She said she could tell, which is why she came up and asked us for help. She said she was a Christian as well. Since 80% of the homeless people tell you they’re Christian, I asked her a question that I think every Christian should be able to answer. “What if I came to you as a Non-Christian friend, and said ‘I don’t see a need for God’s forgiveness’, what would you tell me?”. It’s always revealing to see what people say. It also gives us a chance to use the questions and objections that we always get from people, and see how another “professesing” Christian responds to the typical objections. She did ok. I asked her about the 10 comandments, being a good person, and led her through the commandments, and talked about God’s grace in Christ. Then I gave her some money, and she was so surprised and excited and said “This will buy me Breakfast and Lunch!” She was so happy and grateful and she gave all three of us a hug, and then got quite and very soberly admonished us to NEVER ever ever ever get involved with drugs because they would ruin our lives. I asked if we if we could pray for her, which we did.
**Mark**
Porn Man, the sequel. Mark saw the Porn man, who he talked to last week. Porn man didn’t want to talk this week. In fact he kinda ran away. However God seemed to arrange it so Mark and he crossed paths several times during the night. His conscience must have been bothered him, because he told Mark to get away. Yup, Jesus pretty much summed it up when he said “Light has come into the world, but men loved Darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Pray for the Porn Man. None of us are really any different, we ourselves were once lost and slaves to sin, and God came and forgave us and rescued us from the same.
Mark also talked to some guys who already “knew the Gospel”. Since they knew the Gospel already, Mark’s sharing it with them was annoying to them, even to the point where one of the guys got angry and essentially said “Get away from me”.
Mark’s experience most of the night with the people who he talked with was the “Right now is not a good time.” Vibe. It’s a typical response. Thinking about Death, Eternity, God, having their conscience stirred, is not what they came down to Deep Ellum to experience. “We’re just here to have a good time…we don’t really want to hear about that right now. ” We realize, however, that we are fishing for men, and fish don’t always, (actually they rarely) jump in the boat out of their own volition. On a side note, Living Waters makes a great tract for giving people who don’t want to think about or face the stark facts that they will one day die, and they don’t know when that days is, and should consider eternity and what’s on the other side now, not later. You know, the kind of people who say they will get right with God on their deathbed, or they will repent later. (http://www.livingwaters.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=251&Category_Code= )
**Joel and Joel**
I (Jason) am wiriting a third hand report so if I’m a little off on the details, Joel or Joel can straighten it all out. While I was talking to skull-cane man Joel and Joel had a conversation with a guy with a Catholic background. He was disillusioned with the Catholic church, because of all the bad things that have happened within the Church in recent times. They discussed a little bit about going through a priest vs going through God. He was interested in spiritual things and was going to think about some of the stuff that Joel and Joel brought up.
**Anne and Johnny**
Anne was able to reconnect with Odie(Club Owner) and Matthew (parking attendant), both people whom she has witnessed to in the past. She told me that Odie wasn’t doing so well, but she was able to talk to him for a long time tonight. Johnny got to talk and pray with several people. I don’t have more details about their experience, sorry about that, but I wanted to get this report out.
New people on the team tonight. I was staying with Joel Roberts for the weekend because his parents were out of town so he came, along with Joel Woodward who was spending the night at J.R.’s house. My current housemate Johnny, also came. There were 7 of us altogether.
We split up into teams, I went with the 2 Joels.
We met a guy who was wheeling a trash can down the street. Gave him a tract “You are here” (http://www.livingwaters.co
Skull Cane Man
Stopped and talked to a guy who was sitting outside one of the clothing Shops in one of those little foldout chairs.. Had a cane with him that had a skull on the end so I asked him why he chose that cane with the skull on it when he was “cane” shopping.. I think he said he liked skulls or something. After some small talk and finding out a little bit about him (He works as a web designer, has a family with two teenage girls. He was sitting outside the clothing shop cause his friend worked there, and he was also working on their website, and He went to a Catholic school when he was young.) I asked him what he thought was out there waiting for us after we die. Said he wasn’t sure, so I asked if he had any leanings toward anything. Said he had been studying some world religions, look at re-incarnation, etc. He said he believed in Heaven and Hell, but somehow everyone ended up going to heaven and he was going because God is forgiving. (He was really stuck on this idea for most of our conversation) Then he asked what I BELIEVED (with genuine interest) , so I explained what I believe (without using anything from the bible at that point), that there was a God because of creation, that in exploring world’s religions Christianity made extraordinary claims that no other religion made, that a personal God would by nature care about justice and righting the evil in the world even more than Man would, etc. Eventually asked him if he thought he was a good person and once he said he was, what he thought “Good” was. We went through the Ten Commandments, and he admitted to being a Liar, a Thief, an Adulterer and a Murder at heart according to God’s standards. He still thought he would go to Heaven if God judged him because God would forgive, so brought the analogy over to civil Law to demonstrate that a Good judge would not let Sin go unpunished. Explained that if the Bible was true and reliable, and there was stacks upon stacks upon stacks of evidence that it was, that God would not let the guilty go unpunished and that the Bible said that without the Shedding of Blood, there was NO remission of Sins. Said that this should make sense to us, even without the Bible’s testimony, because our conscience wouldn’t be able to get around it. Described how God took Sin incredibly seriously, demonstrated by the severity of the consequences that have come and will come to those have sinned and remain in their Sin to the point that they die in their sin. James (His name) became real quiet and couldn’t really look me in the eye at that point. He had to help close the clothing shop at that point, but I thanked him for talking and told him to check out for himself if what I was saying was true. (One the things he said was that the Bible had been corrupted and changed by Men. ) Praise God that a seed was planted and pray that God might cause it to grow.
Homeless Donna
A homeless Lady named Donna stopped us on the street and asked us for some money because she hadn’t eaten in a long time. None of us had any cash on us. She pleaded with us, and I told her that I was telling the truth that I didn’t have any cash on me, but If there was an ATM around, I could help her. There was a 7-11 around the corner so we went there. Her story was pretty tragic (She had been married with kids, her husband had left her, then she got re-married but that husband left her and took everything, and she became homeless because she didn’t know how to do anything besides be a housewife.) I bought her a hot dog and water, and while she was munching on that we talked a bit. I told her that we were Christians which is why we down there, to share the gospel. She said she could tell, which is why she came up and asked us for help. She said she was a Christian as well. Since 80% of the homeless people tell you they’re Christian, I asked her a question that I think every Christian should be able to answer. “What if I came to you as a Non-Christian friend, and said ‘I don’t see a need for God’s forgiveness’, what would you tell me?”. It’s always revealing to see what people say. It also gives us a chance to use the questions and objections that we always get from people, and see how another “professesing” Christian responds to the typical objections. She did ok. I asked her about the 10 comandments, being a good person, and led her through the commandments, and talked about God’s grace in Christ. Then I gave her some money, and she was so surprised and excited and said “This will buy me Breakfast and Lunch!” She was so happy and grateful and she gave all three of us a hug, and then got quite and very soberly admonished us to NEVER ever ever ever get involved with drugs because they would ruin our lives. I asked if we if we could pray for her, which we did.
**Mark**
Porn Man, the sequel. Mark saw the Porn man, who he talked to last week. Porn man didn’t want to talk this week. In fact he kinda ran away. However God seemed to arrange it so Mark and he crossed paths several times during the night. His conscience must have been bothered him, because he told Mark to get away. Yup, Jesus pretty much summed it up when he said “Light has come into the world, but men loved Darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Pray for the Porn Man. None of us are really any different, we ourselves were once lost and slaves to sin, and God came and forgave us and rescued us from the same.
Mark also talked to some guys who already “knew the Gospel”. Since they knew the Gospel already, Mark’s sharing it with them was annoying to them, even to the point where one of the guys got angry and essentially said “Get away from me”.
Mark’s experience most of the night with the people who he talked with was the “Right now is not a good time.” Vibe. It’s a typical response. Thinking about Death, Eternity, God, having their conscience stirred, is not what they came down to Deep Ellum to experience. “We’re just here to have a good time…we don’t really want to hear about that right now. ” We realize, however, that we are fishing for men, and fish don’t always, (actually they rarely) jump in the boat out of their own volition. On a side note, Living Waters makes a great tract for giving people who don’t want to think about or face the stark facts that they will one day die, and they don’t know when that days is, and should consider eternity and what’s on the other side now, not later. You know, the kind of people who say they will get right with God on their deathbed, or they will repent later. (http://www.livingwaters.co
**Joel and Joel**
I (Jason) am wiriting a third hand report so if I’m a little off on the details, Joel or Joel can straighten it all out. While I was talking to skull-cane man Joel and Joel had a conversation with a guy with a Catholic background. He was disillusioned with the Catholic church, because of all the bad things that have happened within the Church in recent times. They discussed a little bit about going through a priest vs going through God. He was interested in spiritual things and was going to think about some of the stuff that Joel and Joel brought up.
**Anne and Johnny**
Anne was able to reconnect with Odie(Club Owner) and Matthew (parking attendant), both people whom she has witnessed to in the past. She told me that Odie wasn’t doing so well, but she was able to talk to him for a long time tonight. Johnny got to talk and pray with several people. I don’t have more details about their experience, sorry about that, but I wanted to get this report out.
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