Battle Log

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday February 14th, 2024 from 1300-1500

Today we had Ann, friend of CFC, Amy and Hung gospel outreach duet of CFC teaming up to serve at Sunnybank. The people flow seemingly was less than normal, but grace of God was abundantly sufficient for us to be a witness for me to people of all nations. I had comparatively long chat today with people who shared some of my life moments. It gave them a more 3 D view of the dramatical changed of my life because of the gospel. The chat with a Singaporean young man ended up a surprised gift of red rose to me which I made it a Valentine gift for my wife. She never received any fresh flower from me just some artificial flower for display. It was undoubtedly a disguised blessing from God to His humble servant. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung:

1) I was led to approach Lin ?from Taipei who is a student of the James Cook University in Brisbane majoring in IT. He chose James Cook because he has got a Scholarship. He is non-religious but appeared very open for Gospel and could not found any argument in the gospel message. May God keep guiding him to pursue this Christian faith and be converted in His time.

2) Then I was led to catch up with Adam from Turkey on a working holiday visa. Adam was overjoyed to find out I am a fan of his country having spent 16 days all over many places of his country. Surprisingly, he is also a secularized Muslim or he simply does not regard Islamic as his religion though he still remains to be religious or God-fearing person. So, he appeared very open to the gospel at least will not turn away when Jeus was mentioned. Above all he took a tract and pray that God will touch his heart and move him to seek for salvation through Christ.

3) Daniel is a Singaporean coming to live in Australia since the age of three, so he regards himself a fair dinkum Australian (I also taught him Dinkum is Cantonese of Real Gold) He claimed himself a Chrisitan so I test his assurance of salvation which he only got 80% despite he knows he is saved by grace through faith of Jesus' redemptive work dying for all of us on the cross to take our place for eternal death punishment. The reason why so many Christians are not sure of their status having been changed to the people of God readily the moment they accepted Jesus as their Saviour, is that the substance of our life is yet to be changed. But because of the guarantee provided by Jesus, God will for sure transformed us back to perfection by the work of the Holy Spirit. Anyhow, Daniel was so moved for my explanation of God's love for us that he offered me a Valentine rose. I thanked him and mentioned that it would be presented to my wife as a valentine gift which I have never done before apart from some artificial flower for home display. This is really a surprised gift of God as an award for my faithful day in day out gospel proclamation service to witness for His love and glory.

4) Finally God led me to connect with Mr Wu? from Guangzhou, Panyu, China coming here with his family for tourism. He was there waiting for his wife to do shopping as such I have a long half an hour chat with him. Because we are of similar age and lived once in a near culture geographical location, I was inspired by God to share my testimony of salvation and how my life was completely changed the moment I received Christ after 40 years of searching in the wilderness like the Israelites people. He did not react like majority if the mainlander Chinese being oversensitively fear of talking about religion. He gracefully thanks for my sharing and the time we had after his family came back for him. Pray that the tract he took will serve the purpose to lead him a step closer to eventual salvation.

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday February 6th, 2024 from 1330 – 1500

Thanked God that the weather turned much cooler without the radiating heat. Winnie still could join me today but not next week Feb 20 while Johnny will come back only after Feb 24. But we thanks God for every opportunity that we can serve with God as well as serving as a team. As usual, it was a fruitful outreach effort as ordained and empowered by God. We may encounter rejection from time to time. But if our meagre effort to preach the gospel to a non-believer for the first time sowing the seed, our reward in the heaven will be great. We do thanks God for the privilege being blessed be a blessing.

1) Aussie young girl volunteered to take photo for us when she saw we did the selfie. I took this chance to compliment her as a very good person but still need Jesus and asked her to read the "Are You A Good Person Tract."

2) My first approach was an Aussie lady at the bus stop. She was nice to respond to my catching up brief chat but eventually she declined my invitation to have a chat with the excuse of being busy in texting but perhaps the underlying reason was that she was not interested.

3) Next, I was led to catch up with an Australia Born Indian who is doing Engineering at UQ. Both himself and his parents were born her in Brisbane. So they are not that bounded by their traditional Hindu faith but rather comparatively open to the gospel which he found no loophole to query. I promised to pray for him and if he has any query, I suggested him to join Power to Change in the UQ campus which he agreed.

4) Then I was led to approach Zheng ?from Shandong , China. He comes to study nursing which shows he has plan to stay in Australia as male nurse is not popular in Mainland China. He also disclosed he has been Christian since young back in China . Their family belong to a certain house church branch and he is now attending CCCB- St Lucia I thus switched to test his assurance of salvation which he failed to have 100% certainty. After my clarification, he thanked and promised he will pursue to know God and the gospel better through Bible study and attending the ACTIVITY OF POWER TO CHANGE. He felt comfortable to take a self fie with me.

5) The I was led to approach Chen who is from Nanjing and came to do high school study at the Gold Coast. And now he is admitted to do medical study at UQ. He admitted it was the first time he heard the gospel and he also could not find any fault or query about the gospel and admitted that every one need salvation from eternal death punishment of sin. I also advised him to join Power to Change for pursuance of God and the salvation accepting Jesus as his Savior.

6) Then I caught up with a HongKonger who came just for a few weeks to do speech therapy. . He seemingly is a non-believer despite he has Christian relatives and friends. He anyway still listened to the full gospel and promised to pursue and contact Power to Change.

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It’s the end of another week of outreach!  I haven’t been sleeping so well this week, and so I'm feeling tired.  Because of this I ended up only making it to 1 of the 4 usual street outreaches this week and doing more online outreach instead.

Speaking of online outreach, check on the encouraging screen shot.  That was taken from an Instagram direct message.

And speaking of images.  I really like the one I’ve included from the single street outreach I was involved with: on Friday at the Bridge of remembrance.  Can you spot the gospel conversation?  And in the other picture, can you spot the orange cone?  Christchurch was famous for these, being everywhere during the big Earthquakes (well over a decade ago now, wow, time sure goes fast).

Anyway, let me report on Friday’s outreach.  Andy, John and I were out for 2 hours in the afternoon.

I decided I was going to be bolder than usual in who I approached.  Because, we can so easily fall into the trap of approaching the people who are more likely to have a chat, where in fact we have no idea who will be interested and willing.  I need the reminder to not fear man, but to fear and honour Jesus.  He deserves the reward of his suffering.

I initially paired up with Andy.  I had a couple of short chats to start.  The first was with a Christian gentleman, who didn’t do so well in the initial check question.  He was nice, but sadly didn’t have the time to stay and talk.  He left with a tract.  The next was with a young man who had just picked up 2 handfuls of hired suits for a wedding.  He obviously had places to be, and so I knew this chat would be very short.  And glory to God, that short time wasn’t wasted.  He was familiar with the truths of Jesus, but needed essential clarity.  A couple of well placed check questions were revealing and challenging to him.  I wanted to take the suits and chuck them, so we could sit down and have a good chat, but instead, we gave him 2 types of tracts, and told him to get in touch if he wanted to discuss further.  We left him in God’s hands.

My 3rd opportunity was difficult, the lady was resistant from the get go due to her entrenched worldview.  I gently tried to point out inconsistencies, but due to her closedness, this only irritated her.  Andy ended up taking over, and the chat ended soon after.

John was with us by this stage.  Andy got into a chat with a couple from Japan / France (speaking of France, we had at least 3 interactions with people who spoke French - if only we had more French speakers with us! ;) ).  Due to language issues, that chat was a bit slow, so I ended up peeling off to get into other chats.

I had a great chat with a young couple.  It was great, because of their openness, I was able to take them through the whole suite of check questions.

John and I then had a chat with another young couple.  This time they were closed, taking an atheistic standpoint.  He talked, she listened.  I sparred with him for a while, before John took over and took the conversation to the law and gospel.

To finish the day, I had a great chat with a young lady.  She had grown up in various cultures, having been adopted, and so wasn’t clear on what religion was right.  She came to hear the law and the gospel, and even accepted a gospel of John at the end.

Even though I didn’t go out on Sunday afternoon, Mike did, he said he had a really good convo during the hour he was out.  Glory to God!  Well done Mike, thank you for your service and labour.

Edit: Here is what Mike said: About 20 minutes in a lady came over to talk about Gus [Mike's dog].. she owned a schnauzer, and turns out she was a believer and had been praying for God to show her someone to minister too. Shortly after that, a guy named John came up to the chart and wanted to talk. He had many doubts and didn't understand the gospel at all. He had been to some large churches and heard many conflicting things, but not a proper gospel. So this lady (Rachel) and myself went through the flip chart checking questions with him for 45 minutes and had a deep conversation, talking about justification and sanctification and the role of the Holy Spirit. It was a very timely conversation for him. Please pray for him as he starts to explore the gospels for himself!

And thank you for your prayer and support; thanks for reading to this point, and putting up with the fact that I never proofread what I write!  Haha.  Go serve your king!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday February 7th, 2024 from 1300-1500

Praise be to the Lord, when Edwin became not available to join as it clashed with his new class attending time in the new BST semester, God moved the Gospel warrior of Christ's family Church to come instead. As a result, it became a mini-CFC squad with Hung, Amy, Peace and CFC's friend ANN working as a team to serve and work with God.

This time Amy voluntarily took up chatting and sharing gospel with Peace Mum, most of the time while Ann and Peace especially the latter setting herself a target to share with at least 5 persons which she eventually had accomplished exceeding the target. It was great joy and rewarding to see the growth of your own church members to become a fearless bold gospel warrior. For myself, I also got a few important divine encounters and conversation that may lead to fruitful result. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung:

1) Suki was referred to me by Ann for a follow up chat.

2) Two Chinese look girls but do not speak Chinese yet their English is also not good. I nevertheless, still managed to share them the full gospel in the simplest English expression.

3) Sampras a Filipino man who claimed to have chatted with Edwin last week. I took this opportunity to follow up and he was fully and truly impressed to know that it is the only way for any good but imperfect person or sinful human being to repent and accept Jesus as our Saviour. So I encouraged him to pray to ask God for confirmation to make his last step of faith to accept Christ He showed his appreciation for my passion to emphasize to him the imperative need to receive Christ by taking a selfie with him.

4) Then I was led to approach an African from Sudan. He was nice to chat though he confessed he is a Muslim. I emphasized to him religions are good but cannot address the issue of sin.

5) Last but not the least, I was led to catch up with Tada Ho, a HongKonger girl coming as a Working Holiday person. Although she is not yet a Christian, but she has Christian family members, and appeared very open to the gospel especially after I shared the full gospel with her. I seldom invited people to CFC but I was moved to ask if she feels obliged to do so and contact me later to pick her up.

 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 for Toowong on Tuesday February 6th, 2024 from 1330 – 1500

It was a scorching hot high noon weather worst for street outreach. The radiating heat dissipated from the concrete pedestrian path and the road made the bus stop feel like a furnace. Despite of the extreme situation, Winnie and Hung still were given many divine appointments with non-believers. For Winnie, a couple she met last time took the initiative to greet Winnie to allow her to do follow up encouraging them to look for church in St Lucia. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung.

1) Rejected by two women, one young and one old. Both were supposed to be local Aussie. It reflected the local territorial spirit is so low that most people don't like gospel and any religious matter.

2) Next I was led to chat with a man who is an alumni of UQ. The bus came too quick but he still managed to take a tract.

3) Francisco, a Chilean non believer, but is a chosen one who react favorably and positively to the gospel understanding and appreciating all the points and issue addressed. So he really felt all good and ready to be a Christ follower. He loved to take selfie with me and took a tract to revise on my gospel presentation.

4) Freda, a girl from Sweden doing the psychology subject greatly related to my Master of Counselling course dated back in 2008. She was all rejoice and all open for a chat. It was a pity her bus also came too quick. But she took a track and promise to read and looking forward to meeting me next week, God's willing.

5) Another atheist man from Toronto Canada. He behaved a bit arrogant but still softened to listen to the gospel though with a lot of question.l

6) Spencer, yet another local Aussie who had no argument on the points raised in the Gospel, but still taking no tract at the end.

7) Last but not the east, I was led to approach three Arabic from Dubai. They looked like a mature big brother with his two younger brother and sister. The elder brother quickly identified himself as Muslim. I initially tried to present the issue of sin in a non-religious context. But the eldest Muslim brother kept quoting Koran but not in the official format to deny Jesus as God. I shared some view of Siddique that The earlier writing of the Koran actually gives favorable comments to Christianity and Jesus. But that eldest man kept just repeating his brain wash points that there is only one god and no trinity, and that Jesus is not god. I anyway stood my ground to conclude that Jesus is one of the God head of the triune God as such He is God having equality by substance, by power, and by authority on par with God the father and God the Holy Spirit. Only Jesus has the authority and power to die for us and taking our place to receive the eternally death punishment originally due on us but not they are all forgiven. That was not even mentioned in Koran. Anyway, we set back agreed on our differences and move on. I do pray the two younger ones will be easier to humble themselves to receive Christ as their Savior and Lord of life.

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Glory to God for another week of his patience, in holding back his wrath and justice so we could plead with people about his mercy.  Here is the weekly recap of the gospel street outreaches for the Christchurch team.  We were in the City on Friday (Roger, Andy and I) and Sunday (myself), and in Riccarton on Tuesday (Roger and I).

My most prominent memory from Tuesday’s outreach was a chat with a couple of guys who went to a Fijian Methodist Church.  Sadly, they didn’t understand the gospel, instead pointing to ‘reading the Bible’, ‘going to church’, and ‘prayer’ as the reasons they would go to heaven.  It was a pleasure to be able to labour with them about the gospel.  I had to labour, because it was confusing for them to realise it’s not their works that save them, but the gift of Jesus.

On Friday, I had 3 main conversations, all three with people originally from different parts of the world, and not Christchurch.  One was from the Philippines, another for Slovakia, and the last from England.

The guy from the Phillipines didn’t want a tract, but he was willing to engage in conversation, as long as I walked with him (no problem).  It was a short chat, because we went our separate ways at the lights, but it was enough time for me to touch on the law and the gospel.  He thanked me for what I was doing, and how I was doing it.  He still didn’t want a tract.

The guy from Slovakia had been in NZ for 11 months, his English was okay, but he wasn’t used to using the words you normally use in a deep and meaningful chat.  He ended up pulling out his phone to translate words, and I ended up doing the same.  But it became too difficult, he was entrenched in an eastern worldview, and wasn’t willing to be reasoned with.  Yet, we parted on good terms, and he did take a tract.

The chat with the guy from England was fantastic.  He eventually moved to the issue of evil and suffering.  I warned him the answer is easy, but it can take time to process.  As I was explaining, I was able to reference something from my recent personal / family devotional bible reading: 

     “What profit is there in my death, 
      if I go down to the pit? 
                  Will the dust praise you? 
      Will it tell of your faithfulness? 

Psalm 30:9

So, part of the reason there is evil and suffering, is because it’s part of God’s plan to demonstrate his justice and his mercy, for his glory.  Will dust praise him?  No.  But we can praise God.  We will praise him for his justice and his mercy upon us.  (Will the dust praise a person who just won the 100 metre dash in the Olympics?  No, but people will.)

He seemed to be profoundly struck by this, and other tensions in the gospel.  A simple message, and yet will give us a lifetime to ponder and praise God over.  He was willing to accept a copy of the gospel of John.

On Saturday there was a lot of rain, so I decided to continue working online instead.

On Sunday, I set up my flip chart, I pretty much instantly had a conversation started.  The girl was partially engaged, and so I worked to change that.  What made it hard was her friend standing at a distance and staring.  Eventually she said, “sorry, I zoned out, I’m not interested”.  She gave back the tract and moved on with her friend.

My next conversation was with a couple on a cruise from Sydney.  It was a good one, I was able to share the gospel, but eventually their stomachs became more important.  They left with a tract.  While this chat was occurring, I had two girls come and stand in a queue behind them.  They eventually sat down to wait.  But my chat was going too long for them.  They moved on before I could get to them.

My last chat was a bit of a set up.  But I don’t think they got what they were expecting.  He had to admit that what I was saying made sense.  But by the end of the chat, he said, “you haven’t convinced me”.  It would be great if he got in touch, I’d love to keep reasoning with him.

Thank you so much for your continued prayer for our feeble gospel efforts.  Be encouraged to step out and share about Christ with someone this week!
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday January 31st 2024 from 1300-1500

It was great that Amy can join the Wednesday Sunnybank ministry more regularly as her younger son Joshua has started attending Prep during week days. So Hung, Edwin and Amy were teamed up to serve. Through the active pursuing, in particular by Qin Hao, it always resulted in quick exhaustion of people that nobody was left untouched. Recap below is Hung's Battle Log.

1) James from Taiwan was a very shy big fellow, but he listened to the gospel very attentively and humbly and ended up accepting that the message is good, sensible, logical as such he has no disagreement on any part of the full gospel message. So rationally, it was through, we just wait for the move of the Holy Spirit to bring James home to receive Christ as his Savior and Lord of life.

2) Then I was led to approach a Sri Lanka woman. She looked very open and receptive but I could barely just start when her bus arrived. She anyway happily took a tract to read.

3) Then I was led to approach an Islander lady. She was also all welcoming for the chat but it was a pity, it again was cut short by her arriving bus. But she eagerly asked for a tract to read.

4) Then I was led to meet up with a Christian lady from who is attending the Rochdale Chinese Alliance Church, the Mandarin congregation. She anyway failed the test of her assurance of salvation having only 50% of it . I was good I can clarify with her and she is now correctly having 100% assurance of salvation.

5) A Korean couple were sceptical about our street ministry questioning if it is legal. I made use of this chance to explain that, in all Western free World. It is always legal to have free speech in public place and it is legal to take picture in public place with many strangers being taken into the picture. They turned to show understanding and I also was able to share the full gospel to her. At the end, she also was happy to take a tract as well

6) Then I was led to approach a couple that I thought were both English speaking. But I was wrong that the lady Anna is from Taiwan while her boyfriend Kevin is from Thailand. I was able to share gospel in Chinese to Cindy till her bus arrived. And Kevin was actually just seeing Cindy off for the bus. So, I stayed to share gospel in English with Kevin which he showed genuine appreciation and took a tract as well.

7) Then next I approached a Vietnamese man who does not speak Chinese. Full gospel was briefed and a tract was given out at the end.

8 ) Then I had a long chat with an elderly man Mr. Li ?from Guangzhou with home town at He was exceptionally open and soft to accept gospel He stayed long enough for the full gospel and finally had to leave to pick up his grandchild.

9) Finally, I caught up with another lady from mainland China . She also appeared very open and receptive. I suddenly realize, all mainlander I met today are all gentle, mild and receptive to the Gospel. What a miracle and praised be to God of election.

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Street evangelism in Toowoomba is never boring. People from all over the world call our city home. You never know if you are going to meet an atheist, a Muslim, a Hindu, a relativist or an “apathiest” i.e someone is apathetic to important questions in life. There are many diverse ideas out there.

Yet regardless of our personal viewpoint, we all have a God-shaped hole in our lives. We wander, feeling empty or at the very least feeling vaguely uncomfortable.

Something is “off”.

Enter Jesus. Who He is and what He has done has beautiful, whiplash-inducing ramifications for each and every person. He shows us God. He reunites us with God. His Kingdom is expanding and His unstoppable plan to bring justice and healing to this world is awe-inspiring. This is good news that every person needs to individually hear and respond to.

Our team goes out every month to hand out booklets that help people understand this good news and we strike up conversations with those who are interested.

Below are some uniquely memorable conversations that we had with people this year.

1. On one outreach I (Doug) was able to speak to an older Yazidi man named G---- about Jesus.

I met G----- outside a Middle Eastern convenience store. He was a friendly bloke with excellent English.

I asked him how he became proficient in English. He told me that he learnt English decades ago at the University of Baghdad. I was impressed that he had retained his language skills and we spoke about his journey to Australia that took place a few years ago.

We had a long chat and the topic of beliefs came up. People from non-Western countries seem to be far more open to discussing spiritual matters and we shared our respective beliefs. At the end of our conversation, I offered an Arabic Gospel of John to G--. He was surprised and happy to see a publication in Arabic and he received the Gospel gratefully.

2. Another member of our team (Geoff) had the opportunity to speak to two young blokes outside Grand Central. D--- and L--- had attended a Christian school but had since turned away from God. They had a number of serious questions and they welcomed Geoff’s responses.

3. On the same day one of our team members (Merv) was able to engage an older gentleman in a different part of the CBD. This older man was a Christian but was not connected to a local church. Merv and the gentleman spoke for quite some time and Merv was able to invite him to Merv’s church. I’m pleased to report that the bloke has come to Merv’s church a few times and that there is a growing friendship in this space.

4. I can’t neglect to mention R--, who I met at a park bench near the council chambers. R-- was a character with a fascinating life story. He grew up in a well-known Pentecostal church and both his parents were ministers. As a teenager, he walked away from Jesus and eventually went to university.

R-- graduated with multiple degrees and he worked as a scientist.

However all was not well. He had a drug problem that began to erode the life he had built for himself. He also was treated unfairly by people in his professional circles. Eventually he wound up on the street after experiencing a number of tragedies.

R-- and I spoke for almost an hour on a range of topics. He was a self-professed “man of science” so I brought up the age-old problem of induction that plagues the scientific endeavor. I also explained how Christianity uniquely solves this problem and how it alone can provide a rational basis for humanity’s trust in the scientific method.

R-- pondered this for a while and then chose to bring up the issue of evil in the world. I told R-- that we can all agree that evil is a terrible thing. Yet we can have hope that evil and suffering is not out of control or ultimately meaningless. Our desire for true justice and for a world free of unjust suffering matches God’s desire, as we are made in His image. Since we are made in His image, our desire for a better world makes sense.

I then went on to explain that the collective cry of humanity’s heart against injustice and suffering will be answered when Jesus returns. As the good King, He will punish all evil and finally bring true justice and peace to our broken world. On that day we will also begin to understand God’s patience towards humanity and His power to use all our experiences of evil for a greater good...even His experience of the death of His very own Son on the Cross.

R-- listened and said that he would consider some of these things. He is one of the most thoughtful and interesting people I’ve met and I truly hope to catch up with him again someday. Please pray for him.


Carnival of Flowers and the Christmas Wonderland Outreach

This year we once again dived head first into our two biggest Toowoomba outreach events. Thousands of people travel to Toowoomba for the Carnival of Flowers and tens of thousands of people visit the Toowoomba Christmas Wonderland.

The Carnival of Flowers outreach went quite well with friendly crowds and many open-minded people. Sarah (one of our team members) even had a number of Christians encourage her as she handed out Gospel booklets to passers-by.

The Toowoomba Christmas Wonderland remains a highlight of the year. We handed out a record number of Gospel booklets (2000+) across a few nights. We even had the privilege of partnering with Hailey, the passionate leader of a different street evangelism team here in Toowoomba.

Looking back over the last year we are thankful for the challenge and opportunity of sharing the good news of Jesus with people from our region and beyond. We are thankful for His strength and courage in this work.

It is with a rising sense of urgency that we realise we are one year closer to Christ’s return. The future of our world is glorious...but in the meantime we look forward to getting to work and seeing what He has planned for us in 2024.

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.
Psalm 22:27-28

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Another fantastic week of street outreach in Christchurch, New Zealand.  Glory to God.

There was rain on Tuesday, and so Roger and I decided not to head out.  I spent my time in online outreach instead.

But the weekend outreaches went ahead.  Friday and Sunday afternoons in the city - the Buskers Festival is on, and on Sunday people from a cruise ship were out and about as well.  So, lots of people, and gospel opportunities.  On Saturday lunch time, I was in Riccarton.  This week involved long chats for me, with: Cameron, Colin (Friday), Nathan (Saturday) & Alex (Sunday).

On Friday, it was great to have Andy back from summer leave.  Roger was with us.  I helped Roger set up the flip chart, but before we could even pray together, I noticed someone looking at the chart inquisitively.  I took the initiative and my first long street chat of the week was away.  It went on for over an hour.

Early in the chat he informed me he had had a psychotic episode that had caused him to jump off a cliff!  He is recovering from the resulting back injury.  Later in the chat he revealed that he was involved with alcohol and drugs - including psychedelics.  And so, that answered that question.  The Bible is clear that we should stay sober minded.  And Psychedelics are so deceiving: this guy was talking about the good it had brought into his life, specifically helping him realise how bad alcohol is.  Yet, not surprisingly, he still drinks to excess today.

Also unsurprising is his drift to new age religion.  He had started reading the Bhagavad Gita.

Anyway, through the chat I was able to labour with him in regard to the law and the gospel.   Yet, he wasn’t open to the gospel, because he wasn't appreciating the import of the law, and the serious nature of sin.  He did express an interest in reading the Bible, and he even accepted a gospel of John.  Praying this young man would come under conviction and be converted.  Yet, I leave him in God’s hands - God will be glorified through his justice if he rejects God’s mercy.

It had been a tiring conversation, so I spent some time handing out tracts.  In spite of all the people due to the Busking Festival, there wasn’t much interest.  I ended up over in Cathedral Square, where I tried to engage a young lad in conversation.  He wasn’t coherent, so I left him with a tract.

Back in Cashel Mall, I was still handing out tracts when an older gentleman stopped to engage.  It was a wonderful opportunity.  He had been wrestling with the issue of evolution vs creation - his resolution?  There must be God.  He was familiar with Christian teaching, but sadly he considered himself a very good person.  He was resistant to the law, and yet he was open for me to labour with him about it.  He also heard the gospel.

He said something very interesting that I will use in illustrations in the future.  He has had both prostate and bowel cancer, and has recovered from both.  Now, when he uses the bathroom in the morning, he praises God.  So, even horrible things like cancer can be good, in this case teaching us gratitude, and appreciation for the things we have - even the ability to go to the toilet!

This gentleman was also lonely, having recently lost his wife, and moving to Christchurch.  He needs salvation, and he needs the church!  He had an old and expensive KJV Bible, which he had never fully read.  So, I gave him a Gideon’s ESV Bible, and a church contact card with my number on it.  I also pray that he will come under conviction and be converted.  God have mercy!  Yet, I leave him in God’s hands.

On Saturday, the outreach started out quite slow (as did Sunday), but I ended up having a long chat with a young man who had had a rough life.  His sister had recently died, in prison.  As I shared the law and the gospel with him, he would stare into nothing, pondering deeply.  When I asked what he was thinking, he would explain things that had happened in his past.  One example was a bad car accident.  It led him to the question of: “why am I alive?”  He left with a tract, and I’m also praying for him.

After a slow start on Sunday, I ended up having a long chat with a young man.  He had also had trauma in his life, having been rejected by his Father.  He had philosophical tendencies (I.e., he was avoiding the truth).  I touched a nerve when I described the serious nature of sin when talking about pornography, but he quickly masked it.

During this chat, I had a young man break into the conversation.  I didn’t remember him, but he remembered me.  Apparently I first talked to him 2 years ago at the Canterbury A&P Show, and he had talked to me on the streets multiple times since then.  It was fascinating to see that the law and the gospel had had an effect on him.  Yet, he was still in suppression.  He explained how he was trying to hold the ball of truth under the water, I simply pointed out the flaw in his reasoning, and the ball burst up and hit him on the nose!  His Mum was with him, and calling him from down the street, but he wanted to engage.  As a compromise, I told him to go with his Mum, but to get in touch with me via socials!  I hope he does.

I finished the chat with the original young man, but all the interaction had gathered other people.  A pity I didn’t have more believers with me.  I was able to follow up with four people from Sydney who were on the cruise.  I was able to touch on the law and the gospel.  Three of the four of them took tracts as they moved on.

And then the original young man came back!  He had another question, which I answered, before I checked if he was understanding the gospel.  He got my question right!  God have mercy!

Please continue to pray for us, and even join us!  All glory to God alone.
 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday January 24th 2024 from 1300-1500

Thanks God, Qin Hao was able to team up with Hung to do this committed regular street outreach at Sunnybank. The Heat wave returned after a downcast day yesterday. But the grace of God was sufficient as the temperature was still reasonable not that hot as usual because of the ecology setting around the bus stop with many shaded areas created by the building and the trees around. In term of outreach, it was a day of mixed result. The negative experiences however were from the those who declared themselves Christian. They behaved very erratically hash with suspicious mindset to resist any discussion on religion as if they are gentile or non-believers. I can only pray that God may have further alert message to wake them up from the self-cozy feeling illusion.

On the upside, there were good and mutually building conversation that bring encouragement to both parties. Recap below is the Battle Log of Hung.

1) I was led to approach Daniel a Korean atheist but he behaved very open and non-judgmental to listen to the full gospel with positive reaction. He thanked me sharing the gospel message to him which he found sensible and logical. It was really a minor miracle for an atheist to have such positive reaction towards Gospel.

2) Then I moved on to approach a young man form Taiwan. He quickly reviewed he is a church goer though not yet a believer with a hidden implication that he has heard of the gospel and I should not waste time on him. Of course, I took no risk but still share him the gospel and pray that all the obstacle preventing him to make the last step of action faith will be removed.

3) Then I turned to my right to chat with a woman from Taiwan. She quickly identified herself a Christian, but when asked about her assurance of salvation, she got nervous and refuse to listen to my clarification on those misunderstood area about salvation.

4) Then I spent a longest time to chat with Mr Ho ? from Hong Kong coming here for visiting relative. He has great interest to listen to my personal testimony as many things and people mentioned were known by him. He shared that he once attended church but no more. I nevertheless encourage him to give it a go to pursue God that will be the only source we can secure inner peace and joy to live a victorious life despite of the objective environment has turned rough. He appreciated our conversation and took a selfie with me on parting for his bus.

5) Then I caught up with a Vietnamese young man who comes for Taffe study. The conversation did last long enough for full gospel but he was moved to take a tract.

6) Then I was led to chat with a mum with a young kid daughter who are from Taiwan to accompany her husband from for a special job in the Aero space avionics industry . She was very nice and friendly to listen to the gospel and took a tract afterwards.

7) Then I met with a Korean mum with three very children one adolescent and two young kids. She displayed rare temperament of critical mindset and behaved very unfriendlily and refused to have any discussion on religion. I could only attribute it to lack of patience in dealing with three kids.

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