Battle Log

 

On Saturday 9th March, Simon and I went to Exeter for outreach which is the next biggest city to Plymouth, a population of around 150,000 and always seems to have a good response when we go there to preach and witness.

Simon preached first which was for around 40 minutes while I handed out tracts to people that walked past, while a few other people stopped to listen. 

Something unusual happened whn Simon was preached- a lady gave him a hand written note, and we read it together afterwards which is attached. It seemed to show she had been brought up in a legalistic Church and had obviously affected her in a negative way and led to her renouncing the Church which is most unfortunate, but she left quickly without us having a chance to talk to her about it.

I spoke to three lads in their early twenties who were in the Navy who had taken an interest in the million pound note tracts. When speaking about life and death and if anything had ever happened to them- one said that he had a heart condition and had collapsed in the street with the other friend having to help him and call the ambulance. This made the other two think more about eternity, and one of the lads smiled when I was talking and when I asked why he said he had looked at a woman walk past in the street after I had talked about the seventh commandment. This made us all share about why men can find it difficult not to do that and why we need a Saviour! 

A woman with quite bright new age clothing and her hair in braids stopped to read the intelligence test questions and asked what we were doing and was very happy to ask some questions and take tracts.

I preached again about the carving of a woman in the high street that showed us all we knew that God existed as it needed a designer, and why we all knew God existed but just loved being in charge of our own lives rather than acknowledge Gods existence. I shared again about CSI and how DNA meant we were all fearfully and wonderfully made, but that also we could not commit a crime with evidence being left, and that God who made the eye and the ear could see and hear and why we needed saving because we had all done wrong, with a conscience and knowledge of it.

A lady listened as I preached and afterwards said her name was Bernice. She said she was formerly an atheist but had become a Christian 16 years ago after hearing an open air preacher here in Exeter and was born again. She was really encouraging and spoke at length to Simon.

Two university students stopped to read the intelligence test and led to a great conversation afterwards, and Simon spoke to a  man who was next to us with others with dragon boats- he was a Jew and said he was still waiting for the Messiah, and Simon managed to speak to him about Isaiah 53 and the many reasons why we know Jesus is the Messiah!

A lady that came up at the end as we were packing up was asking questions about homosexuality, how we know the Bible is true, how we discipline our children- she had spoken to us when we went and they had the gay pride march a few months ago, and although was quite argumentative did listen to our answers and took some tracts.

When we finished and were walking back to the car we stopped in McDonald's that had loads of teenagers in on a Saturday afternoon. They were reading the intelligence test board and led to lots of chats and tracts being handed out, and a McDonald's staff member read the board and said he was a Christian and went to Brethren Church here in Exeter.

It was a fantastic day with lots of great encouragement from some Christians that walked past and many tracts handed out and fruitful conversations. God really blessed us with good weather and an open square with not much going on which allowed room for people to stop and think about the message we were preaching and we were praising and thanking God on the way home for such a good day! SDG

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On Saturday 2nd March we had arranged to meet again for outreach in Plymouth City Centre, and as I was a bit early had a coffee and bacon bap at Gregg's. A Christian lady I knew walked past and asked me a question about the book of Job which we discussed, but a man sat next to me heard the conversation, and so when finished chatting to the lady I managed to have a conversation with this man called John.

He said he was a Christian and had been to Church before etc, but didn't like religion and people trying to force their views on others. He said he watched some Christians on TBN (not best examples) and said that he had quite a past in the forces, working in clubs as a doorman etc, and with his big beard and tattoos said he had quite a few fights before he was a Christian, but now openly told people about his faith. He said that as long as someone believed in Jesus they didn't need to get into religion etc, and so we managed to have a great chat for around 15 minutes about which Jesus people believed in, wrong views of who Jesus was (JW's and Mormon's etc) and what the Bible said were the consequences of us believing another gospel (Galatians 1 v 8-9)

It was a great conversation and was able to give him some tracts to read and think about, and seemed thankful we had spoken which I believe was a great 'God-incidence' being there at that time.

I later met with George and Harry from Faith Mission, and George preached while Harry and I were the 'rent a crowd' and trying to hand tracts to people as they walked past. I ahd an interesting chat with a man from Arizona called John who had come to the UK with friends but had come to the Southwest to explore but in doing so had lost his passport, and was killing time until meeting friends at coach station tomorrow. He had to call the American embassy etc and fortunately had a copy of his passport and hoped things would improve tomorrow when he met back up with people. He was desperate to try and find an American pastor down her to speak to, but as I was unaware of any in the churches here, managed to give him some tracts to read which he was again thankful for and said would be great to remember his journey and travels here.

I later open air preached from 1 Corinthians v 8-9 which I prayed about as is quite a contentious verse among unbelievers-

'Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

I tried to show that all of us can be deceived in different ways, through used car salesman, dodgy scams online or being short changed, but the worst thing would be to be deceived about where we were spending our eternity and that living in constant, unrepentant sin would show that we were actually not saved, but that many of us try to be religious while continually living in our sin. Christians are sinners that have been saved by grace and have also formally lived in sin and now as believers can still struggle with sin, but know that is no longer their lifestyle or desire in life. God however can wash us from the inside, forgive us, cleanse us, give us a new heart with new desires and a brand new start, IF people would admit their sins and humbly come to Jesus in repentant faith to be forgiven.

I was worried a passerby may try to pick up on the verse about homosexuality, but was fine and a few people had stopped to listen who we tried to give tracts to and speak with afterwards, one older man in particular whose brother had formerally been a street preacher but who himself did not believe in a God due to all the wars etc around us.

Ed and Laura came later after I had left and had another interesting and fruitful outreach, with Harry enduring a little bit of heckling when he preached, with I believe the same guy I had spoken with earlier interrupting with the familiar "what has caused all the wars throughout history?" question before walking away not being interested in the answer.

Laura, Ed, George and Harry spoke with many different people, but in particular ask for prayers please for Hannah, a philosophy/ psychology student (can't remember which), Muriel (ex Catholic) whom we've seen before and Finn, young guy who listened for a good while while his friends hung around.

The weather was kind to us and many tracts were handed out to passers by, with us hopefully planning to go to Plympton and Exeter next week for outreach which will hopefully be good, as well as Simon and I making some new A2 posters for people to read and a 'good person test' flip chart.

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Last week in England was Half term for most schools which fortunately gave me a week off, and while having a coffee and bacon bap in the city centre saw two Mormons sitting down for a break after speaking to people in the town. I prayed and managed to start up a conversation asking if the wanted a coffee! but then managed to engage for around 20 minutes about their doctrines and beliefs in what Joseph Smith taught, as supposed to what Gods word actually says, particularly about the deity of Jesus, the after life and judgment to come, our good works and their place in salvation and their belief in people having another chance to believe and respond to the good news after death!

I praised them for their hard work and dedication to their cause, but as per Galatians 1 v 8-9 made it clear to them that if they believed another gospel and had the wrong view of who Jesus was, then they would not be saved, and that our good works come after our salvation, and are not added to what Jesus had accomplished for believers on the cross when He said 'It is finished'.

They listened and took tracts and had a pleasant conversation, and later that day I saw a group of 11 teenagers from St.Austell in Cornwall that had come up shopping for the day. We another great conversations and were intrigued with the intelligence test questions to break the ice. We managed to talk about the afterlife, Heaven, Hell, the age someone may die and if any sin was worth holding onto for this short life, rather than repenting of to be given eternal life.They all took tracts and had some firm hand shakes so I pray some seeds were sown.

On Saturday 23rd, Harry, George and I met up in the city centre for outreach on a beautiful sunny day with no wind and lots of people around shopping to talk to.

George preached about the former ISIS fighter girl wanting to come back to England and related this to our eternities and how we need to be transferred to Gods kingdom from this current one by grace through faith in Jesus alone, and led to chats with people after who were listening intently.

I later preached on gambling and betting and the odds people play against in the hope of winning, and the odds people gamble with their life in trying to believe God does not exist, particularly as the Scientific odds of a protein coming about by chance were 1 in 10 with 164 zeros behind it, and a single ell evolving by chance are 1 in 10 with 360 million zeros behind it! I said that everyone knew God existed, or else where do we get our morality from? Judges talks about when there was no King in Israel in those days, and everyone doing what was right in their own eyes, and therefore when people try to believe God does not exist to allow them to dabble with sin and be the ruler of their own lives, yet people borrow from the Christian world view to KNOW anything is absolutely right or wrong, or else Hitler and the Holocaust and Abortion could be justified if there was no morality for society to live by.

When I left, Della, Laura and Robbie came and Della spoke to girl called Misha who seemed to make a profession of faith, and Laura spoke to a New Ager called Ralph, a Satanist called Terry and Carol an ex Catholic who took the Bible. Harry also preached when I left and as the pictures show was a beautiful day with lots of tracts handed out and conversations had.

In a couple of weeks we are hoping to plan a trip to Exeter again God willing, and pray Gods word was preached faithfully and He would be pleased to save those that were listening that would respond to the gospel that was proclaimed!

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On a cold and very windy Saturday 2nd February, George and Della met in Plymouth city Centre for outreach before others could come. They set up George's Faith mission board with scriptures and tracts and free Bibles and started handing out tracts and some conversations with people before Della had to leave and Ed and myself came later.  

While setting up the Intelligence test board, two teenagers came along and started asking some questions. They were both 16 years old and said they had a - C of E background after attending Primary school and some church attendance, but said they did not really have a strong belief. I was able to share with them some evidences for Gods existence, and using Gods law showed them from their conscience how we all know God exists but because of our sin choose to make excuses about God or make a God in our own image that is ok with our sin. I tried to show them the connection between Christmas and Easter and why Jesus had to die on the cross, even though he was perfect and didn't do anything wrong, but fulfilled Gods law and a righteousness for us so we could stand before God justified as if we had never sinned, even though we had. They took some tracts and said they had a Bible at home each and had something to think about.

After last weeks ruling in New York about Abortion now being allowed up to the third trimester/ 40 weeks, I had a strong desire to want to preach about this absolutely sickening bill that allowed the murder of the unborn, and so brought a poster I had made a while ago but never really used. I read from Psalm 139 and preached for around 20 minutes that life started from conception and that therefore abortion was murder and that over 96% of abortions were for social reasons rather than rape or medical risk to the mother, and so abortions was being used as a means of contraception rather than the baby being given for adoption, and that only God could forgive murder and the gospel was the only way for peoples sins to be washed away, what ever they were, even if people walking past had an abortion in the past they could be forgiven because of what Jesus had done for sinners. I said that any guilt and shame that people tried to cover up through drink or drugs or wrong relationships could not wash away a guilty conscience but only the blood of Jesus could restore their relationship with God.

An angry big issue seller walked past a couple of times and shouted at me saying I had no right to tell women what they should do and that it was their right. He said his friend had an abortion before, but he didn't like the statistic that abortion was mostly for social convenience. He shouted that it was Christians in the crusades who had murdered people, but I corrected him that was Roman Catholics responding to the Muslim invasion and actually it wasn't Christians who murdered people today but Muslims in the name of Islam. This made him even more irate and his swearing at me made quite a lot of people stop to listen. I continued to preach as he walked off.

This led to a couple in mid twenties walking past and stopping to read the intelligence test and a long chat for around 15 minutes as to why Christianity as supposed to other religions, the age of the earth, and life after death according to what the Bible said.

He started off a bit argumentative but eventually we had a good conversation and allowed me to share the gospel with both of them that now worked in Plymouth after coming down from Berkshire. They were both very amicable and took some tracts and understood why we were out that day- not to condemn people but because we cared about peoples eternity and had been forgiven for doing the same sins as others had.

Ed was very good at handing out tracts to people and listened to the preaching to help draw others in. George also preached and had three conversations that were quite good- David who claimed to be a 'confirmed' Christian in the C of E but didn't have a grasp of the Gospel. The Gospel was explained and he was given literature to read. Two young men called Tyler and George had a conversation with Della and George about the purpose of life and the significance of Christ and were given tracts. They also spoke with a young woman called Chloe who was brought up in a Christian home, knew parts of the Bible but had no grasp of the gospel, she had rejected Christianity but yet seemed open because she stopped to ask for a free bible and was spoken to for a while.

It was a very blustery day and the rain just about held off but lots of tracts were handed out and some good conversations with people. We pray some seeds were sown in fertile ground and that God would continue to work on their hearts so they would repent and respond to Gods grace in Christ.

 

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On Saturday 12th January, George, Harry and myself met at 11.30am in the top of the city Centre for outreach. This was the first one we had done collectively in the New Year, and I believe all of us have had different conversations individually with unbelievers in our day to day work before Christmas. I am quite prone to buying things on Facebook Marketplace and never like buying anything new if I can buy it cheaper on there first, and this has led to many chats with people, particularly when after exchanging 'real' money for the item, and then asking if people have any change for a million pound note tract. This has been a great way to share the gospel with people and give them a card for our church with some good solid Bible websites on, (of course one being the 'operation513.com' site) with the gospel message on the back.

Today George was preaching at the top of the main high street who, along with his twin brother, are full time evangelists with Faith Mission, and they had updated some new signs for their board to show people just how far the gap is between unbelievers with their sin against a Holy God. Their pictures are nice and big, bold and visual to get peoples attention, and a great way for people to focus on what he is saying. Three lads walked past, probably in their late teens/ early twenties, and having been offered a tract by Harry while George preached, they declined it and carried on walking. However I tried to catch them as they walked off by asking if they had any change for a million pound note, and having got one of their attention managed to have a good conversation with all three of them.

I tried to focus on why at present God was probably the last thing on their mind as they thought they had no need of him, as if there was a God they probably thought there were many more people worse than them. One was 'religious', and hoped his good works and saying sorry would help him out. However I managed to show him that none of our good works can help us bribe a judge, but we needed payment on our behalf. They said they had recently celebrated Christmas, so I tried to refresh their minds about what that and Easter was all about.

They all seemed quite young and healthy, so after asking if anything bad had ever happened to them like an accident or illness, one lad in particular said he had been in hospital before with a life threatening condition, and so I managed to show the scars on my leg and again show how short our life is, and that even healthy fit people like them can die young. I asked them if their was any sin that they presently enjoyed that they thought was worth holding onto for this short life, rather than giving up and repenting of to gain eternal life. They were quite silent and hopefully pondered the thought, and I managed to give them some tracts to read and to point them in the direction of 'www.fullyfreefilms.com' for some good short Christian films on the subjects we had discussed. I thanked them all for stopping to chat for a while and I hope the firm handshakes I received back were a sign they had something to think about.

I later preached for a while and started by sharing my love of Reptiles and exotic animals and feeding my tarantulas and Chameleons and how the cricket run away and try and hide when the lid is taken off, relating this to the scripture where Jesus said 'men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil..' I tried to convey to passers by that they were not ignorant of Gods existence as they couldn't be due to the creation around them and their conscience telling them right and wrong, like Jimeny Cricket from Pinocchio, but that people avoided thoughts of God due to their love of sin, which by nature we all had.

A group of students seemed to have stopped to listen, and a conversation occurred afterwards- one was a young white Muslim man that was very pleasant and congenial, who didn't believe in the Hadith's, but respected and honoured Jesus etc. We talked for a while about why Jesus would have to be God the Son to take away our sin, the trinity and how to have assurance of eternal life now, rather than living his whole life hoping his good deeds outweighed his bad, We left on friendly terms, again with all taking some tracts to think about.

I left at 1pm for a Wheelchair Basketball game, and Simon, Laura and Ed came to join George and Harry from 1.30- 3pm, with Della and Robbie both unfortunately unwell. The weather had started to deteriorate when I left and so was quite wet and cold, but George managed to preach again but unfortunately ws stopped by questions from a man called Rusty? Apparently he was speaking to the group for about an hour with many varied questions, but kept trying to change the subject when important matters were brought up.The group said they all spoke to him and others and continued to hand out tracts, but we all said was was speaking to Rusty beneficial- was he just trying to waste time to stop the preaching or were his questions genuine?

Maybe he was genuine and God was working in him and convicted him through the preaching and tracts, but to discern whether he was genuine maybe only God knows! God willing we are meeting again in the next coupe of weeks, but all of us will share on our Facebook evangelism group of any interesting or memorable encounters and conversations we have before then in the week.

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On Saturday 27th October I drove to Exeter to meet George, while Della and her boyfriend got the train to meet us later. Simon was unable to come due to work, and Harry had been at a wedding and so there were just a few of us today. Fortunately though George had made contact with another Indian Church nearby who came out to support us.

It was a very cold windy day, and unfortunately there were many buskers and sports cars in the square for people to look at, which forced us to move further down the high street to preach. This area still had around three busker within earshot playing drums, electric guitars and a didgeridoo and so it was very difficult for people to hear us, even with amplification. We prayed, and then George preached while people listened in and tried to give out tracts to people who would not stop to listen, and unfortunately very few people stopped due to the nature of where we were and the cold.

However God drew one man to stop and talk to Della about what was being said, who in turn was happy to take a Bible and some literature from her.

Later on I preached with amplification and spoke about the many distractions the devil tries to use to put peoples minds off of God, and that our business in life could not put off the fact of our facing eternity. I spoke for a while about Halloween and people preferring darkness rather than light, less there deeds be exposed, and the reasons why people didn't like acknowledging God's existence unless it suited them because of their sin, and how easy it is to blame God for things in life not going according to our plans, but people seldom thank God for all the good things He gives us everyday that we take for granted.

Again a few people slowed down to listen and various tracts were given out, but on the outside it did not appear such a successful day compared to where we normally set up by the square. However we discussed this afterwards as a team and trust that the conversations we had and where we ended up preaching was for a reason and that just one person hearing the gospel and being saved would be worth it.

We are meeting this week at my huse to hopefully all watch the new film 'American gospel' together which should encourage us to continue to persue God and make sure we persue sound doctrine and teach truth.

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Hello, its great to be back with Operation513 ministry again and to upload our first battlelog of 2018. A few of us have been going out together over the past few years when we can, as well as the University on Friday nights now that Freshers week has come. Plymouth has a joint University population of around 30,000 students so there are always many fresh faces to talk to when the evenings are dry before they hit the clubs and bars.

We have also been very fortunate to meet up with two twins from Derby that are based in Gunnislake, Cornwall for a year (and hopefully more) with Faith Mission and whose leaders I have found out were best friends with my Grandparents

(it's a small world.)

Plymouth city Centre on Saturday 29th September 2018

A couple of weeks ago a group of us met in Plymouth City Centre from 11-2.30pm to preach and hand out tracts to passers by and talk with people who would stop to see what was going on. Our team in Plymouth consists of four people, but we were able to join up with the Sons of Thunder, George and Harry from Faith Mission, as well as an Indian family they had met that have a small house fellowship that I had met previously when working for Dominoes (a few of them are delivery drivers.)

The weather was good to us, and we prayed that God would be gracious to us to cause people to stop and listen to what was being said as so many people are seemingly apathetic and pass by (unlike Exeter where we also preach) and as always, God is so much kinder to us that we can conceive with many people stopping to hear the preaching and take tracts.

The brothers from Faith Mission have a great preaching board they transport with visual scriptures and messages and tracts that catch peoples attention, and the Doctor that preached first was very loud and got many peoples attention for a small man. He told us of coming to the UK from India to preach the gospel to the UK and how through his work in medicine he had seen God do many miracles in healing people from diseases and sickness through medicine and prayer,a s well as the incomparability of evolution with Science and how his work testified to Gods glory in him seeing DNA and cells and everything made for a purpose, therefore man was without excuse in denying Gods existence.

Many people stopped to listen as again they were so shocked that such a seemingly small and quiet man could have such a loud preaching voice!

Indian Doctor preaching that is part of small house church in Plymouth

George and Harry both preached and used their scripture board to chat to a group of teenagers that actually attend the school I work at, and asked them many questions about what they learn in school and is this compatible to what they see around them in regards to evolution and design, as well as other religions that are taught and why Christianity is the only one that can save.

George preaching, one of two twins who are evangelists with Faith Mission that we often go out with

Simon then preached who also attends Grace Community Church in Torpoint with me, and has been stopped by Police before a few months ago when we preached, as a passer by had thought he was a Muslim hate preacher (probably because of his beard!) but when the Police actually spoke to us they were very sincere and nice and apologized as realized we were not doing anything wrong and the passer by was mistaken.

Simon preached on John 3 v 36 and the urgent message that Gods patience is short and that those without Christ are storing up wrath for the day of judgment unless they flee to the Son for shelter and forgiveness, which caused many of those sitting nearby to think.

Simon preaching, one of our team in Plymouth.

Della (with back to camera) who is also part of our team had some great conversations with two women who walked by and managed to share her testimony with them.

 

I Preached on John 9 and how Jesus said if you said you were blind, you would see, but those that say they see are still spiritually blind and people's need to humble themselves and turn to Jesus by 100 faith alone and not by any works as other false religions do to save us.

Between us we were able to hand out many tracts and had many conversations as were about 10 of us out altogether that day and hope to plan more outreaches in Plymouth, Exeter and Truro in the next few weeks.

If you are interested in joining our group please contact us through Operation513 or Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/117995602226495/

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