Battle Log

It’s so good to be back on my own patch!  My own beat.  My regular routine!  I’ve loved the 2 months of special outreaches, including: a training day, 3 A&P Show outreaches, and the Schoolies trip to the Gold Coast (check out the details of that here).  But, it’s good to get back to normal

I got back from the Gold Coast a week ago, and I took some time off to rest and recover from the intensity of that, and the 3 day Canterbury A&P show before it.  I was back to work on Thursday, and there have been 3 street outreaches to report on: Friday in the City, Saturday in Riccarton, and Sunday (today) in the City.

It was overcast and cold on Friday, but no rain.  There were heaps of people out and about, so much opportunity.  There was a team of 5, it was great to have 2 newbies with us.  One paired up with Andy, and the other paired up with me.

But, I arrived early, and with all the people around, I thought I would get started.  On the Gold Coast, we didn’t use tracts or flip charts to start chats, and so I decided to do the same thing today.  After prayer, I approached two guys.  Flat out rejection!  They didn’t even want to accept tracts as I left!  Oh well.  So, I approached two ladies.  Again, rejection.  The NZ crowd can be tough!  One of the girls said she had ‘tried’ Christianity when she was 15, but now that she was 24, she didn’t want anything to do with it.  Sadly, she didn’t want to talk about it.  So I respected her wishes and moved on.  Yet, they both accepted tracts as I left - that was good.

By this stage, the team was starting to arrive.  After prayer together, we got to it.

So, I was paired with one of the newbies - it was so great to see how keen she was to get involved.  She had done something similar with other people.

The highlight chat of the outreach was a long one.  I approached a young man who recognised me.  It turns out I had shared the gospel with him in Riccarton.  But he didn’t remember the gospel.  Yet, he was keen to talk again, so we fell into a long chat on the tram line, and when a tram came, we ended up sitting down.  I can see why he didn’t remember the gospel, he was a philosophical type, who loved to discuss religion, but not make any commitments.

I did my best to stay on task, but I wanted to give the newbie room to get involved, and also have time to listen to the young man who liked to talk, and actually had good questions.  Other than the law and the gospel, we covered why God decrees evil and suffering, and we even discussed presuppositions - he brought it up!

The conversation was interrupted when a couple of streeties came along.  I knew one of them, so I said, “hi Jesse”.  He didn’t recognise me, but he seemed touched that I knew his name and so it turned into a five way conversation!

It eventually wrapped up, and it was the end of the outreach already!  The original guy we were talking to was keen to continue the conversation, so we exchanged mobile #’s.  I have it on my list to follow up with him next week - which I will do.

As a team, after closing prayer, we went for hot chocolates for some fellowship.

On Saturday I was on my own in Riccarton.  And I had some wonderful gospel opportunities.

I talked to a young man who used to be part of a church I know down south: we had a mutual friend: the pastor of the church!

The kid had a reasonable grasp of the gospel, which was great.  But, now that he had moved to Christchurch, he wasn’t involved with church.  And then at the end of the conversation, it turns out he is dating his flatmate, who isn’t a believer.  I challenged the kid that this wasn’t right.  He is at a crossroads.  I invited him to my church, which is not far from where he lives.  But sadly he didn’t come along today.  I was grateful to be placed there by God as a witness to him.  I contacted the Pastor about him.  Please join us in praying for the situation, that he would make a decision to follow Christ, no matter the cost.

At the end of the outreach, I had an elderly man come past, he was intrigued by my flip chart.  And wanted to sit down to chat.  I knew the ‘script’ wasn’t going to work with this guy.  He was lonely, and just wanted to talk - and I was more than happy to listen.  When a response was reasonable, I would gently minister the gospel.  He touched on things in his life.  It was obvious he had Christian influences in his life.  At the end he went back to the flip chart, and wanted to discuss some of the people on the front page.  We ended up on the Jesus ‘fireball’ page.  He ended up asking if I knew Ray Comfort! :)  He left with a tract and a contact card for my church - even though he lives on the other side of the city.

Interestingly, on this outreach, I discovered a weathered contact card from my church (pictured).  I don’t hand them out too often, so it had obviously been discarded by someone who had decided to reject the gospel :(  Oh well, either way (justice of mercy), may God be glorified!

I ended up being late to Sunday’s outreach due to a good chat I was having with a local pastor who was visiting our church gathering.

Susan was also late, and she arrived not long after me.  It’s Christmas at Ballantynes.  And they have the partitions up for people looking at their window displays.  I like that, because it pushes people closer to me as they walk past.

It was a busy hour of ministry.  I had two flip chart chats, plus a follow up with a regular, plus handed out heaps of Christmas tracts “Merry Christmas”!

One of the flip chart chats was with a tourist from Melbourne in Aussie, he was offended at the idea that everyone deserves hell, and how serious sin is to God.  Yet, he stayed to at least hear the gospel and go through some of the checks before he moved on.  He accepted a tract.

The last chat was with a couple of guys who were Sikh.

So that covers it.  Oh, there was some kind of protest that went past.  People who were saying that there was not enough justice.  It’s so true!  It amazes me that people want to deny that justice when it comes to God.  Instead, I wish they humbled themselves and accepted the mercy of God, in Jesus taking their justice for them!  Glory to God alone!
 

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