Battle Log

A full week of street outreach this week.  Roger and Dominic were with me on Tuesday late afternoon in Riccarton.  Andy, John, Roger and myself on Friday afternoon in the city.  I was in Riccarton Saturday lunch time.  And Susan joined me on Sunday afternoon in the city.

As Roger and I were arriving at our fishing hole on Tuesday, I noticed a guy on a bike talking with someone.  Dominic was already there and into a conversation!  Great to see.  As I was helping Roger set up his flipchart (not that he needs help, I just like to serve him), Dominic joined us, and we prayed together.  As we finished, I noticed three young men coming round the corner, and so I instinctively said, “would you like to try the good person test?”  They gave me an inch, so I made the most of the opportunity: 1 started talking with me, and so Roger started engaging another, while the 3rd continued walking.  The guy I was talking to started engaging, which was encouraging (he came to understand that he is suppressing what he knows about God).  Sadly, the 3rd guy came back and gave him the look - he really didn’t want to stay and talk with us.  But the guy I was talking to left with a tract - hopefully he decides to read it based on the short chat we had.

Dominic and I paired up, and we moved over to our side of the street (leaving Roger to his patch!)  We were able to have 2 solid gospel conversations.

The first was with a young Indian guy.  He is fairly new to the country and is studying health sciences at Ara.  It was a great chat in the sense that I was able to go through the whole flip chart with him, and so Dominic was able to get the whole overview.  This young man came to understand the gospel, and even made a profession of faith.  But when I got him to count the cost (I invited him to church), he hedged.  But he accepted a copy of the gospel of John (he said he would read it), a tract and a card for my church.  He said he may consider it once he has had a chance to settle into his new life in New Zealand.  May the law bring conviction, and the gospel conversion by the power of the Spirit.

Now, I fully intended to get Dominic involved in the next conversation, but to my shame, I ended up hogging the next chat!  Two guys stopped and became very engaged.  One was very postmodern in his thinking (we can’t know anything).  It was a long chat, and we ended up going right till it was dark and we could see our breath as it was getting cold.  The other guy started asking very good questions.  Those guys left with cards for my church too.

I didn’t have time to take pics for that outreach, so I snapped a quick one of Roger just after we had packed up.

On Friday, I was paired up with John, we continued an important theological conversation that came from a gospel conversation we had last week.  It’s great that, even though we strongly disagree, we are still able to understand each other, love one another, and continue to labour alongside one another.

Our first opportunity was with a young Maori guy.  Initially he was taking offence.  He was making assumptions about us, based on New Zealand’s colonial past, and the fact that we were obviously representing Christianity.  It was like a volcano was going to erupt in him.  Somehow I managed to defuse him.  I showed him how logic is universal, and transcends religion and culture; I showed him that I wanted to talk about truth that applied to all peoples.  He calmed down and I was able to briefly share the law and the gospel.  He even opened up about the influence of Christianity in his relatives, even if he was rejecting it.  It was a short chat, but a good one in the end.  He left with a tract.

Next up we ended up getting into a chat with a Philosophy student and his friend.  The Philosophy student was very resistant.  At one point he was even shaking.  And yet, even though I gave him many opportunities to end the conversation, it went a lot longer than I expected.

Back at the bridge of remembrance, John and I ended up splitting up.  I ended up getting into a very long conversation with a young guitarist / vocalist / songwriter using Roger’s flip chart.  I was able to share the law and the gospel, but they guy kept pulling the conversation to philosophical points.  To my amazement, among other things, he expressed a struggle with the reality of the sovereignty of God in salvation!  I was gobsmacked, because this is an important issue that Christians struggle with too!  Yet, this guy was working hard in his suppression of God.  Twice in the conversation, I had to point out: “you know what you are saying right?  What you are saying is: ‘I am god’”.  Our hearts are idol making factories.  We hate the true God, because we want to be god.  I wanted to end the chat, because it wasn’t going anywhere.  But, by this stage, a fellow band member had arrived, and Andy was engaging him.  So I kept my conversation going so Andy could share the gospel.  Andy had a great chat!  In the end, the guy Andy was talking to left, when the guy I was talking to didn’t want to leave, in spite of his resistance.  Roger helped me with that chat, and by the time it was finally over, the outreach was over.

Roger and I ended up having coffee with a young guy keen on evangelism, but is subtly articulating works for salvation.  It was a tiring conversation!

Please keep us in prayer as we minister to all quarters.

Saturday was great.  It started out with a chat with a young Muslim, but that was interrupted by two high school kids who had talked to me at last year's Canterbury A&P Show.  One of them wanted a selfie with me, for some reason.  Maybe to mock?  Maybe not?  I was able to engage them both in gospel conversation and they took tracts.

Later I had a chat with an elderly gentleman, with a strong Christian background, but wasn’t understanding the gospel.  He was too proud and confronted with some of the simple gospel realities I was presenting.  He avoided them by talking about himself, sadly.  He left with a tract in his pocket.

And this reminds me, that Dominic and I were able to share with an elderly gentleman on Tuesday too.  The gospel is not just for young people.  It’s for everyone.

I’m running out of time, but I just want to touch on the wonderful outreach I had today in the city.  For the first part, I didn’t really have any down time.  I caught up with a few regulars (3 of them), before getting into a long conversation with a young student doctor whom I’ve talked to a couple of times before.  He is a transvestite (the first time I talked to him he was wearing lipstick and a dress).  I shared the law and the gospel with him the first time I met him.  And so today, he just asked me questions.  He is resistant to the gospel, but at least he feels comfortable talking to me!  I don’t hate him, and he knows it.  And yet, he knows I think homosexuality is a sin.  He knows I want him to accept that gospel, knowing it will change his life.  He didn’t want another tract as we parted ways.

I went straight into a chat with a lovely Christian couple, and then from that I went straight into a chat with a young couple.  He was open about the fact that he didn’t have an argument against the existence of God, but he didn’t care.  I was able to labour with them both to an understanding of the gospel.  It was a great chat.

By this stage, Susan was with me, and we spent the last hour of outreach in ‘walk up’.  We were able to speak with a young French couple, Susan spoke with a couple of young ladies - one of whom took offence at God’s law, killing the chat.  While I had a brief engagement with a young Christian man who went to ‘works for salvation’, before correcting with ‘Jesus’.  Concerning, he left with a tract.

I’m taking a week’s break before getting into a busy summer of outreach, so it’ll be 2 weeks before my next report (God willing).  God bless you as you are salt and light to those around you.  Glory to God alone.
 

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