Battle Log

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Operation 513 Battle Log of Toowong on Tuesday June 23, 2020 from 1330 - 1500

Praise and thank God for a fruitful afternoon with the three of us i.e. John the captain , Hung and Winnie to team up to serve in windy condition. Yet, the wind did not stop our work paved by God as such we all had almost non-stop divine appointment opportunities. The three of us actually represents three generation of OPN 513 ministry. Johnny joined first since 2014 and introduced me to join in 2018 than Winnie was introduced by me to join in 2019. Pray that God will continue to use us to mobilize more World Christian to join especially those who have done Kairos and are on the life integration journey to develop apostolic Passion for the mission of God.

Johnny had several significant chats with several local Aussie and a UQ students fro China. Especially the last one that the chat last over 40 minutes. Trusted God has wonderful work on this young fellow. (*1)

Winnie had three full gospel sharing opportunities to two local Aussie and one older lady from New Guineas. They all were receptive to the gospel and Winnie even referred them to Power to Change and the Chinese Church near by. For details, please refer to her sharing in Chinese.(*2)

As for me, I had 7 significant chats as recap below: -

1) My first gospel target was Michael, an Aussie of Catholic background. He was wearing a T shirt too thin for the windy condition. But he willingly stop to chat with me by removing to a less windy spot. We had a long chat that helped clarify all the misconception in his Catholic upbringing that he is saved by grace through faith alone in Christ. He was so appreciative for our talk that willingly he agreed to take a selfie with me.

2) Then I caught up with two girls from mainland China. Normally , the mainlander tend to reject for a chat. These two were no exception. One even tried to discourage my approach by claiming that she believe in ET rather than God as such just save my gas to bother them. But God was gracious enough to let the other girl to remain holding a more open attitude to let me share the full gospel with her. At the end, the rejective girl was kept silence to listen the full gospel as well before the bus came just right at the end of my sharing.

3) Neda an UQ student from Qatar. she quickly declared her Islamic faith. I rightly assured her that all regions including Islam are not bad but they only serves to moblize people to become a better person. Yet none if them address the issue of sin and punishment that without Jesus we will all be condemned to suffer eternally in the hell of fire. She found the gospel very logical and sensible as such she appeared quite receptive at the end and promised to ponder further after reading the tract at home to make her decision of the life time to trust Jesus as her sole means of salvation.

4) Kim is also an UQ student from Philippines of Catholic and Buddhism mixed faith family background. She anyhow was very open to gospel and also appeared very receptive to be saved by grace through faith in Christ.

5) Linda another UQ student from Canada is also of Catholic background that does not have clear understanding and assurance of salvation. Our chat helped her to have all the misconceptions clarified.

6) Li the the 2nd last is an UQ student from Malaysia. He was reluctant initially to chat but God moved and changed her attitude to become more receptive later. He has no clear profession of faith. The gospel appears logical and sensible to him but at the end of the day, only God can do the final touch in his life.

7) The final one was a local Aussie listening to music with head phone. God still made him stop to accept my tract and stop for a brief chat of hte nutshell of the Gospel before teh bus arrived.

(*1) Johnny's Sharing

感謝天父上帝的祝福和帶領，下午在Toowong 的街頭福音事工Operation 513有三位参加關牧師,Winnie,和我。下午有不錯的福音對話，有兩位年輕人Alice and Manny他們聽完福音後決定要信靠耶穌成為他們的救主。另外有一位自稱是佛教徒的昆大學生Gery 黃，與我談了約四十分，他今天應該會想想如何面對上帝公正⚖️的審判。

(*2) Winnie's sharing

感谢主 今天的带领，傳了福音给三人。Lee, Mimi 及 Vivian. Lee & Mimi 是本地人, 他們願意信靠主，接受免费救恩，到教會尋求真理。Vivian 是 New Geinea, 來澳，基督徒，不太清楚自己是否已经得救，担心她先生在那處。我長细解释她聽，她聽後，放心交給主。願主譲今天聽到福音的人，繼續㝷求主的話語向前走。感谢讚美主。

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Monday and Tuesday online were exciting! There were many good conversations but a few highlights will be recounted. It is good to note though that, evangelism is always about learning. Each conversation that doesn't go as planned is an opportunity to consider, "How can I better bring the good news of the gospel to people's ears". Sometimes it's about reading a situation better and getting there faster and other times it is about slowing down and letting the challenge of the law sting more. There will never be a point at which you've mastered it because there is always a new person to speak with who is slightly different from the last.

Often in evangelism you can find yourself get into a rut. You have two or three conversations in a row with hard hearted people and you end up with a soft and gentle person and can push too hard, losing the conversation because you were in the habit of not being as gentle as you could. Or alternatively you're with gentle people and then you get a hard hearted person who runs away with the line wasting time because you let them have a little too much freedom in their answers.

One conversation almost ruined by a little to much intensity was with Derek. He had a Catholic background and was willing to chat but was a bit of a dawdler with his words. A couple of times he was cut off and an apology had to be issued for not letting him speak. He initially was insisting on "asking for forgiveness" which is easily the most common answer that is heard from professing Christians about how they think they gain forgiveness and get to Heaven. Thankfully at the end of the conversation Derek said, "I want to thank you man, I really appreciate what you've had to say and it has changed my mind. I know properly understand the faith I once said that I had".

He was encouraged to read Romans 3-5 and to consider it further. Next conversation was a harder one, Callan was self assured, ironically so. He said he didn't want to trust anything a human said (which was pointed out as untrue, showing that he trusts his drivers license and the like) but also that he simply wanted to trust himself over and against anyone else. It wasn't about the humanity of the person, it was just that he wanted to be his own God. This was pointed out time and time again. He was able to grasp the gospel but was adamant that he wanted no part in it.

Callan is from Christchurch, NZ and Operation 513 has a team there. Please be praying that he would have a second opportunity in person to speak about Christ and that God would be kind to draw him to Himself!

A shorter conversation was with Brenda who is Brazillian. She had some Catholic background (expected in South America) and she too saw the good news of the gospel and really quickly understood and said that she wanted to trust in Christ this very day! She was encouraged to start reading her Bible (which she hadn't in over two years) and had some questions about things she had struggled with regarding Christianity. She was left with some simple answers and the ability to contact the team via needGod.net if she had any follow up!

Please be praying for all those who heard that God would be kind in drawing them to Himself, for His glory and their good! Lastly, why not come join us yourself! Now is easier than ever, with the ability to have live feedback and encouragement as someone basically can be a fly on the wall in your conversations!

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On Saturday night the team headed into Brisbane City and again (as I hope you've noticed if you read this battle log reports regularly) it was a great night! It's always a great night! Every single attempt to opens one's mouth to talk not just about morality and policitcs but to consider God's law, man's sinfulness and guilt and the good news that God Himself entered history taking the just punishment for those who believe, is a great conversation!

At the beginning of the night the first hour flew by, it was filled with five conversations in a row where either the person or the couple spoken too saw God's existence and their guilt and when asked the question, "So how do you not end up in Hell?" they left. There was a moment of reflection upon this and a moment of mourning, people who would prefer not to hear the solution because that would require them to acknowledge their problem. As this was being considered a timely reminder came from a team member, "Knowing how few people are out to proclaim this good news, it is not possible that God in His providence would cause any conversation to be a waste"!

Following this, there was a man who had been dawdling around most of the evening. A quiet prayer had been prayed earlier in the night that an opportunity would arise to be able to converse with him, as he had walked past around 6-8 times with different people. He was asked, "What do you think happens after we die?" and he stopped and engaged. As he was beginning to comprehend the gospel two of his friends stopped by and tried to drag him away but he even said to them, "Nah, you go on, I want to hear this!" In the next little while Jonathon came to understand the good news, saw that it was a free gift and therefore as a result he would desire to obey God out of gratitude.

Jonathon was grateful for the conversation said that he would really think about this and took a gospel of John saying that he would read it for himself! This was backed onto by a conversation with Ahmed. When he was first approached it was expected that he would be a little more argumentative but in less than ten minutes, he came to grasp the gospel, said he was thankful for the chat and said that he too would check out a Bible sometime. This was then followed by a conversation with Raat and Nepalese man who likewise grasped the good news and was challenged with the importance of the timing of the response, not knowing when would be his last day.

The finale conversation was with Andre a professing Christian who was struggling to articulate the gospel clearly but came to be able and was warned that his previous profession was a false one on the basis that he wasn't trusting in Christ alone for His forgiveness. He also shared that he isn't really attending a Church and has just sort of finding his "own way with God". He was challenged about what a Christian life will look like and was shown the seriousness, that anyone who professes to be a Christian will love Christ and obey Him.

Please be praying for those who heard this good news tonight, that they would respond in faith to the gospel, trusting that Jesus taking the punishment for their sin is the only reason they're going to Heaven. Please be praying for those who heard of their guilt and ran that God would cut them to the heart, leaving them feeling guilty, desperately looking for the solution so that next time God provides an opportunity for them to hear that they would listen, hear and believe!

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Melbourne team could not go out on Saturday as I have done the COVID -19 and realised that I have to legally quarantine myself till the result comes out..ha..ha.. but praise God ! I got my test result the next day. And in God's providence, the following Monday was Queen's birthday so we still could go out for street evangelism. 

God faithfully sent 4 labourers, we had many wonderful conversations with 1 on 1 evangelism and also flip chart evangelism. We ended up staying late than normal times as we met brothers and sisters in Christ who wanted to chat with us about evangelism! 

I pray that they will step further from just being encouraged by other Christians sharing gospel to actually sharing gospel themselves for God's glory and people's soul's salvation

From Dave Knight:- 

A lot of people around because of the holiday. We set up the flip chart on the corner of Swanston and Burke streets. After one of the flip chart presentations I had the opportunity of speaking with a young man who said he was an agnostic atheist. His explanation of this was to be somewhere between the two. He talked with me at length for about 40 minutes and at the end I left him my email address. A few days later he sent me an email asking if we could meet for a coffee and chat. I wrote back stating that I would be happy to do that and I’m praying he will respond and we can set up a time and place to meet. Please pray for this young man.

From Huy do: 

This Monday's evangelism proved quite productive. The Lord was gracious to gather crowds after crowds after crowds. I perceive many of the people in the crowds had that realizing facial expression when Christ was preached as the one who satisfied the wrath of God for all those that believe. Many were illuminated as to what God did to forgive and still be just. I ended the encounters with a call which I intend to focus more on, that Christ is a saviour who can save the uttermost of sinners, and will wash away all the sins of those that come to Him by faith that He died for them and rose on their behalf. That He will separate the sins of those that believe as the east is from the West. I praise God that He has illuminated many minds as to the extent of the Gospel and only pray that He will save them.

 

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On Saturday, the weather was quite warm and constant. By God's faithfulness, we had 5 labourers to share the gospel. 

It was so good to be back to the street again, there was protest in the Bourke st so we had to do one on one evangelism to begin with. We had two new people who joined us for evangelism who were Holly and James it was great to have new people who were passionate about preaching the gospel. Myself, Holly and James went as a team. 

We encountered group of people from Italy who were visiting Australia, when we approached them they graciously allowed us to ask questions about their eternity, as I shared the law they were laughing and chuckling I had 'what happens to you when you die' mini flip chart so it was very handy to share the gospel even more clearly. When gospel was finally shared, some people looked they were interested in this good news but some people kind of laughed and did not take it seriously. I cannot remember all of their names but please pray as you read this report. 

I also met a guy from German who were here in Australia with working holiday visa. I stopped him to share the gospel in the middle of the street but he responded really well and after I shared the gospel he said that he would like to believe in the gospel that Jesus Christ died and rose again. Please pray for him as you read this report. 

 

From Holly:-

Although I intially had a lot of fear and anxiety leading up to Saturdays evangelism, I was also asking God to remove my fear and give me boldness and allow his holy spirit to speak through me. I prayed for divine appointments, and I feel so blessed in knowing that God answered all of my prayers. The highlight of my experience on Saturday was talking to a young man who was intially quite open and responsive to what I was sharing about Jesus. He shared that he was interested in mediation and hinted to the fact that he had also used drugs to reach a state of transcendence. He acknowledged that each person is looking for purpose and meaning in life (which reminded me of how God has put that yearning in our hearts so that he can fill it with himself) We spoke about religion and how he said that most religions are talking about the same God. Somehow the Lord gave me the words to speak to this guy and share that Christianity was much more than a religion, but a relationship, and that other religions are based on striving and good works, but that God sent Jesus his only beloved son to die in our place so that we would not have to. As we wrapped up our conversation I shared that I would be praying for him, and that if he really wanted to know God, God would reveal himself to him.

It is an honour and privilege to know that the Lord used me in sowing a seed in that man's life, and I am praying that it would fall on good soil and that he would encounter Jesus and accept him into his life.

This is an experience I will never forget, and I was greatly encouraged by my fellow brothers in Christ who faithfully come out each Saturday to spread the gospel, being Jesus' hands and feet and taking up the great Commission. God definitely shows up and moves when we take that step of faith despite our fears, and proves himself faithful and loving.

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Outside Christmas outreaches and a few random other events, this is the beginning of Friday nights in Brisbane city. It was an unusual experience, compared to the normal numbers of people on a Saturday, there were many many people out! This meant that the twenty six team members that were there for some or all of the night were able to engage in conversations! Many paired up, others went out on their own but they spread generally over the heart of Brisbane CBD!

The first two conversations were a little tough, two very hard hearted Muslims, who were willing to believe in their inconsistencies as they didn't have to acknowledge that they were morally bankrupt. A man who heard the gospel and said, "I don't want to believe that, I want to live my own way".

Then was an exciting conversation with Camila and Valentina. These two came to have real clarity on the gospel, they came to understand the good news and they were challenged greatly by it acknowledging that this very day (after having professed to be a Christian for much of their lives) that they would be trusting in Christ alone as the reason they were going to Heaven. Then they were encouraged in evangelism. As they were shown the seriousness of someone who is trusting in Jesus and their own goodness as the reason they are going to Heaven, is actually someone who is on their way to Hell. They took this seriously and said that they would start seeking to share the good news with their Spanish speaking friends who had been influenced by the teachings of the Catholic church.

The next conversation was with Ezekiel. He at first had some good things to say but wasn't really clear on the good news. He had the right pieces but had mixed it up a bit, referencing his goodness and actions as the primary reason of his acceptance, not Jesus taking the punishment for his sin. When he came to grasp the gospel he said two things. Firstly he commented that this has really clarified it for him and he was so thankful for the conversation! He was excited that he had had the chat then he said, "Just as I was walking over there (he gestured to 50m away), I paused and asked God to help me. I realised that over these past three months, I had gotten so far from God. I had been in isolation, living my own way, totally distracted from God and so I made a silent plea to Him. I didn't even know what to pray but I asked for his help. Then I paused here and less than 30 seconds later you walked over and started this conversation and I knew it was from God!"

What an encouraging testimony. God is the one who answers prayers, the one who draws people to Himself. He is sovereign over the means and the ends. If Zeke had never prayed that, God couldn't have answered his prayer. If the team wasn't in the city, he would never have been approached. God in His providence, provided the means and the ends and from the outward appearance of the conversation, a very different eternity for Zeke as a result!

It's moments like these that are such a strong reminder as to why evangelism is so critical! Especially that in the public sqaure! Why not schedule a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night to join the team in Brisbane city, that God may use you to draw a lost sinner to Himself?

The finale of the evening was a 6 minute conversation with a young couple who had their minds blown at the building builder analogy, saw the law and their guilt and had said that it made sense to trust that Jesus had paid for their sin this very day, knowing that it would impact how they live in the future (even though Heaven is free).

Please be praying for all those who heard the good news, that they would consider it and that God would stir their hearts a love for Him and a desire for them to share the good news with others themselves!

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Operation 513 Battle Log For Sunnybank on June 17, 2020 from 1300-1500

It was a bright sunny afternoon in contrast to a rain interrupted one in last Wednesday. Johnny and I joined force again in Christ to await for the divine appointments God was going to assigned to us. It anyway was a reasonably full day with continuous opportunity for a chat. God led us to meet with both committed Christians for mutual edification, nominal Christians who need teaching and clarification of assurance of salvation, and of course non-believers who are opened with soften heart ready for Christ, and a few die hard ones who are still determined to reject the offer of free gift of eternal life. In anyway, God is in control with results developing according to His Sovereign Will.

For me , I had seven complete and significant chat with people of different categories as mentioned above: -

1) Vic from Vietnam was a very mature and knowledgeable Christian. Quickly he declared his Christian status and passed my two diagnosis questions. We entered into deeper theological discussion for mutual edification.

2) Robin a Filipino catholic back ground lady but now turned a protestant Christian. She is also quite clear in mind about salvation by grace through faith which is completely different from her up bringing in Catholic Church. But she is humble and show the eagerness to deepen her understanding of the Will of God for her in a most balanced manner.

3) A man by the name of Han 韓from Shandong, mainland China山東，he came for work and has been in Australia for two years 來工作兩年. He initially was reluctant to stop but still allow me to walk and talk across the bridge. I ask if he had heard the gospel before and how di he find it. He said it was his first time hearing gospel but he acknowledged that what I shared was understandable and sensible.完全明白，He sincerely thanks me and promise he will consider after reading the tract later.願考慮接受。

4) An Aussie Man who shows favorite towards Buddhism appeared impartial and willing to talk. I pointed out to him that all sort of religion are not bad in nature as their main objectives are to appeal people to be a good person. Yet Christianity stands out by telling the fact that being a Good Person alone would not resolve the life time issue of sin. Anyhow, some prior bad experience with the Jehovah Witness people made him very critical against all other religions including Christianity. Nevertheless, he still responded positively to my sharing emphasizing that we are still sinners despite we think we are good. And all sinner need the salvation by Christ. He seems to be on the run for some errand, so our conversation had to end.

5) Carol is an Indian lady from Banjam. She has no religion but find the gospel very sensible and appealing and promise she will consider after reading the tract.

6) Nadine an aboriginal lady who was first approach by Johnny. She quickly declared she is a Christian. As usual, I always would use the two diagnosis questions to test for the clarity of their faith. She is good and basically have the right understanding of the gosepl and salvation. We shared a bit more about the AMOS and she was thrilled to hear about it.

7) The last conversation for the day was the longest with a die hard atheist lady by the name Tso曹 from Quangzhou 廣州，死硬無神論. Here initial stand was to shut me down for sharing gospel. But God moved me to keep chatting teo find out her background and identify with her upbringing in the atheist Communist China. Then I changed tactic to share my own testimony that of course involved a lot of past history common to our life dated back to the incident of June 4th and other historical moment in China and Hong Kong. 改用生命見證，She said she definitely will not accept any religion after having gone to churches in China and in HKG. I opined that it only represents God's all knowing plan to keep chasing after her everywhere she goes. I even prophesied that one day, she will receive Christ and be baptized beyond her current anticipation. I certainly will not be there in that future moment but just remember my word I said to her now. 接受我預告的祝福. I believed God has used me to soften her heart after this delightful chat in that sunny afternoon.

 

 

 

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Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong on June 16, 2020 from 11330 to 1500

Praise and thanks God that a team of five was gathered today for the second week of returning to the street in Toowong. In addition to Johnny the leader and me, Hung, we had Col, Gary and Winnie rejoining force with the Toowong team. And the hustle created by the closure of the Bus stop was removed as it is now reopened so that Winnie can station there to get many good chats. Please refer to her sharing in Chinese below(*). Basically she had three completed conversations with three UQ students Danial, Renee, & Alice by using the "Good Person" flip chart and a few more incomplete approaches being cut short by the arrival of the bus. It was really a good encouragement for her after such a long suspension of ministry.

As for Gary and Col, they teamed up to serve at the foot of the pedestrian bridge also with many valuable pieces of conversation.

Johnny chose to serve alone at the other side of the Toowong Village near the Front Main entrance. He had one good full conversation also using the flip chart. He knew how to wait before God in whatever circumstances.

As for me, I got four divine appointments which I recap as below: -

1) Jade is an UQ student without any religious attachment. She was initially reluctant to chat. But God softened her heart to stop and ending up for a long chat hearing the full gospel. Her attitude towards Christianity was greatly changed knowing it is not just yet another worldly religion appealing people to do good work alone. She now admitted she is not a perfect person with punishable sins that can only be paid for by the sacrificial death of Jesus. She also knew that accepting Jesus is a crucial step for her holistic salvation to first having reconciled with God regaining the lost heavenly citizenship. Then we are just a work in progress to be transformed towards perfection by God through the work of the Holy Spirit in our born again life.

2) Mia is an UQ student from Shandong. She said Col and Gary had talked to her and given her an English tract. I anyway gave her the Chinese tract and accompanied her to walk a long way back to her home near by for a full clarification of the Gospel in Chinese again. It certainly helped her to grasp the full understanding of the gospel without any message lost in translation.

3) Aaron Daniel Hennig is a local Aussie Christian who once had a happy family with a Chinese Wife and a lovely daughter. Yet his wife only was interested to have a baby with him and fled back to China with the baby girl. He tried to keep this sacred marriage going but his wife still sought for unilateral divorce. With such a great set back in life, he once lost himself and become a home less people. Thanks to God that he together with other home less people have been relocated to live in some Government provided apartment near by in Toowong because of the threat of Covid-19. He is able to pick up his life from where he fell and become positive and trusting even more deeply to the Lord. He even shared a poetic message with me that he had written for a Russian lady friend on Face Book who complained about her tough life. At the end, I still managed to check and ensure he has correct understanding of salvation and knows he can go to heaven just because of Jesus Christ,

4) Janna is a young UQ student from Nepal yet having a Chinese looking face. I thought she must be either professing the Hindu or Islamic faith but she surprised me that she is a Christian by birth from a Christian Family back home. She further shocked me when I tested on her assurance of salvation and she gave me the correct answer of 100% certainty. It could be better if she could tell this with a very firm tone. But anyway, God's work in her life as well as her family is never short of miracles.

(*) Winnie's sharing in Chinese
感謝主的带领，今天讓我傳到福音给三人，Danial, Renee, 及Alice. 相片中是大學生，Danial從 Melbourne 過來。Alice 是 South Africa 來澳，而Renee 是本地人。他們都相信神 拯救世人，為我們的罪死在十字架上。願意信靠主。另外有两位因为巴士到，聽了一半，趕着上車。
希望神带领他們到教會，讓他們更加明白到真理。感謝讚美主🙏🙏🙏

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Monday afternoon's outreach was an excitement. The team have continued to find new avenues online in which they can share the gospel! Omegle is awesome and the majority of the time is spent there but the discovery has been made that people are stumbling across the live stream and they are getting to hear the good news there as well. People who have been spoken to or disconnected on Omegle have also come searching for the team on other platforms as well! God is very kind to so many!

The main part of the afternoon was taken up with an almost three hour conversation with Desert. He was shown early on how we can be certain that God exists and this was followed by a look at God's law. Then Desert asked a few more personal questions and shared some things about himself. After the next bit of conversation he came to see that we are all guilty and in very serious trouble, that our eternity is destined for Hell, if we're being judged based on our actions. Then he saw the goodness and loving kindness of God the Son that He chose to enter history, taking the form of a man and humbled Himself to the point of death, to take the punishment we deserve.

Desert saw the good news and then talked through the implications to his life as well as how we know it is true and was a patient listener at times as well as being a thoughtful speaker. It was a conversation of great length and great depth and many different topics were covered. At the end it was noted that it had been a pleasure to chat with him and he said, "I know a lot of "Christians" but I feel like you're the first actual Christian that I have met. You seem to be genuinely interested in listening and hearing me and didn't just judge me but were willing to discuss and talk that I could understand. I am really thankful for this conversation and am glad I came on here tonight, even though I wasn't expecting to have a conversation like this".

It was an exciting conversation and well worth the time. Please keep Desert in your prayer as he considereds what God has to say and starts to read the Bible for Himself!

The evening was filled with many other very exciting conversations but two quick summaries will be most encouraging.

The first was with four teenage girls and one of whom we being very rude to begin with. Though they didn't disconnect! Over the course of a twenty minute conversation each of the four of them came to be able to articulate the good news of how someone is forgiven and after talking about the life change that will take place the girl who was initially rude and hostile even apologised for the way she had spoken in the beginning!

The last conversation of the evening was with a man who initially proclaimed to be a demon but after twenty minutes of patience and encouging him to engage seriously opened up and came to discuss it seriously, coming to understand the good news for the first time in his life and was profoundly impacted. He was challenged to respond in faith knowing that it will cause him to have a total life transformation.

Please be praying for these five as well that the gospel would be the fragrance that leads to life rather than the strench of death!

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An exciting weekend of outreach in Christchurch (NZ).  Crisp but sunny days.

On Saturday I headed into the central city and decided to set up my flip chart close to the bridge of remembrance.  And I stayed in the same spot for four hours.  Initially it was a bit quiet, but as the day progressed, it became very busy.

Three other groups came to set up beside me: Falun Gong (very dedicated to street “evangelism” in Christchurch), Hare Krishna (I’ve shared the gospel with one of the leaders a number of times over the recent years, and we are friendly), and a group protesting the CCP involvement in Hong Kong.  For people walking past, they had to walk the gauntlet!  And I was right in the middle of it.

With patience, I ended up having many wonderful gospel opportunities.

One stand out involved a special conversation with a lovely Muslim lady.  I noticed her walk past me earlier in the outreach.  When she walked past a second time, she decided to take a tract from me, and I was able to start a conversation - she was mildly curious about the good person test.  Sadly, this lovely lady lost her husband just over a year ago in the Mosque shooting!  And she shed some tears in remembrance while she was talking with me.  She received my heartfelt sympathy.  She allowed me to discuss the gospel with her, but she was mildly resistant.

The other conversation that comes to mind was a long (but amicable) debate with a young man who was very intelligent - it turns out he studied physics at university.  Eventually I was able to move past his intellect and start addressing his conscience - the law is a powerful ally indeed!  But he admitted to loving his sin and was suppressing the truth.  It was fascinating watching him do it.  He denied a basis for truth, then made moral judgements, and then claimed he was the standard.  He could see the absurdity, but he didn’t want the alternative.  I eventually shut the conversation down, I was getting a headache concentrating on my discussion with him while filtering out the Hare Krishna’s and the music from the CCP protesters!  We parted on good terms, and he took a tract.

On Sunday I had two opportunities to open air preach!  In the morning I was teaching at my local church (Redemption Church) on 1 Peter 1:3-5, and just as I was coming to the end, a fire alarm went off!  I had to finish off outside without amplification!

It was also our church's monthly outreach Sunday where we wrapped up fellowship a little early so we could get into the city for gospel outreach.  There was a team of nine.  We paired up and spread out and had a wonderful time in flip chart and walk up conversations with people.  Super encouraging!

Andy had two follow up opportunities with people he had talked to on Friday.  Toby and Mark had some great opportunities - including with a group of teen boys (pictured).  Beth and Haley had a great conversation.  And Thomas had a wonderful conversation near the end on the flip chart.

To finish the outreach, we went to Cathedral Square for some open air preaching - my second opportunity! ;)

The team ended up having some wonderful one to one opportunities as well.  I finished the outreach with a couple from Canada who were very eager to talk with me, but resisted the truth I was trying to share.  They ended up disengaging - I left them to it.

Praise God for another week of gospel outreach in Christchurch!  Next week I’m taking a break from the front lines for some R&R - praise God for that.  Looking forward to recharging my batteries with my precious family and then getting back to the harvest fields!  Thank you for your prayer and support!
 

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