Battle Log

It was a hot day on Thursday and a cold day on Friday but there was lots of gospel ministry both days.

Andy and I meet at Eastgate for the bus stop outreach on Thursday afternoon - our intention was to head to Northlands half way through.  But we never go there.  Everytime I would finish a conversation, I’d look up and see Andy in a deep chat, so I’d start a new conversation.  I had a couple of highlight conversations.

The first I want to mention was a chat that had started with three guys.  One of them had already received a tract from me earlier and they were discussing it as they came past me again.  I was able to stop them and start a conversation (the other two received tracts as well).  But they were all in different places making the conversation difficult.  Andy came to my rescue and engaged two of them (pictured) leaving me to focus on the other guy.

This other guy was very engaged in the conversation, he heard the law and the gospel and then he started asking good questions.  It felt like he was probing for a weakness in the logic of what I was explaining - was he going to resist and attack?  Or was he genuinely interested?  It turns out it was the latter - although he admitted that his sin was hindering him from accepting the gift of Christ - he knew he would change, and he was counting the cost.  We departed ways - he left his two friends who were now in a deep conversation with Andy.

So I moved down and approached two teens waiting for a bus.  They accepted tracts and were open for a conversation.  And it was a wonderful conversation - although a bit odd.  The first girl would get the answers to my questions right but then forget the answers.  The other girl struggled with the questions - but a conviction came over her.  They were smoking a cigarette and she became very aware that it’s something she shouldn’t be doing.  But she came to an understanding of the gospel.  Interestingly she had a desire to start reading her Bible again.

Near the end of the outreach, I fell into a flow with my gospel sharing.  It was like I was mentally standing back and watching the interaction - amazed at how it was unfolding.  Really, all the glory is Gods!

Two guys stopped and engaged - joking around.  But by the end of the conversation the smiles were gone and they were seriously contemplating what was being discussed.  While I was explaining the gospel, I was using checking questions to make sure the message was being grasped - it wasn’t.  One of them kept reverting to “being a good person” as the reason he was going to heaven.  I would patiently roll back and re-explain.  At the end of the conversation, the other guy said, “look, I’m not going to do this now - not for a few years”.  He wanted the gospel, but he wanted his life his way too.  I challenged him multiple ways on how faulty that logic was.

In the morning, before heading to Eastgate I was sharing the gospel online for a few hours.  My last conversation was amazing.  It was with a girl from Brazil.  She thought her good deeds and keeping the commandments would get her to heaven - and so I took her through the law and then the gospel.  She came to grasp the good news.  She started to cry.  And then she said that the reason why she was crying was because she had been praying to God for help the previous evening, and now God was using me to answer that prayer!  What a privilege and honour to be used by God like this!  I encouraged her to stop trusting in her good deeds to get her to heaven, and to instead trust in Jesus alone.  I then encouraged her to become disciplined in her Bible reading.  She was already a part of a conservative evangelical church (Presbyterian).

Friday had a weather forecast for rain, and there was light rain in the morning - so we cancelled the gospel + abortion outreach.  Andy and I spent time in online gospel ministry instead.

But the rain never really materialised.  We ended up heading into the city for open air preaching and one to one gospel chats.

While Andy preached, I did my usual rounds among the construction workers.  I had already talked to many of them, but I encountered one who I hadn’t.  He came to hear the law and the gospel, and he thanked me - he said he had something to think about.

I then approached two more who were happy to engage.  One of them became disinterested and said he had to go back to work.  His friend needed to go too - but he wanted to stay and hear the gospel.  He had a Christian background but had never understood the central message of Christianity.  He thanked me before he too had to head off.

In Cashel Mall, the highlight conversation I had was a walk up.  The guy smiled as I approached.  It almost felt like he wanted me to come to him.  He was very open and followed the logic of the law and the gospel easily.  At the end I asked if he had questions - he did.  One of them was: “where does confession come into it?”  Before I left him, I challenged him to respond to the gospel.

I also had a sad conversation.  I saw a guy I recognised, and I approached him.  Many years ago we had been part of the same local church.  But sadly, he is an apostate.  Gospel ministry today is very discouraging - not seeing fruit -- and setting rotten fruit.  And yet, God is incontrol of the seasons of life.  We can trust his word, and leave the results in his hands.  Lord, help us to be faithful in spite of what we see!
 

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Tuesday.  First up I talked with a very bright young lad who came to understand the gospel.  But then I was transported into the dorm room of a young man half stoned waiting for his next online class and frustrated by the pandemic.  I gently reasoned with him.  He understood and resisted.  Eventually he fell off his chair!  I didn’t know if he was joking or what.  Assuming he could still hear me, I continued to share the hope of the gospel.  After a minute, he sat back up and re-engaged.  I decided to bail from the conversation.  I dropped a link to needGod.net into the chat.  He looked at it and said: “needGod.net”.  I disconnected.  God have mercy.

Two ladies heard the gospel, before I was transported to Morocco to have a gospel conversation with a young muslim who was resistant.  We fell back to text and Google Translate to take us between English and Arabic (pictured).

Next up a very bright young lady who clearly understood the logic and law I explained to her - she couldn’t argue with it.  I shared the gospel, she came to understand why Jesus died on the cross.  She stared at me and disconnected.  She understood it, and rejected it.  Wow.  Then I was transported into a chat with a guy who had a nice sounding keyboard but didn’t want to talk.  I talked, he typed.  He was very intelligent - but it was blinding him.  He loved philosophy, and so was very engaged, but he blocked all attempts for me to explain the gospel.  He eventually bailed on me.

Another kid was open to hear the gospel - praise God.  And then yet another kid was too!  I asked if he had any questions, he said: “no, but thank you”.

Next up was a Mr. Angry.  Actually, I very rarely encounter conversations like this.  He hated religion with a vengeance and he was completely closed to reason.  I bailed quite early.  But then I was connected with a guy from Alabama.  He thought he understood the gospel, but he didn’t.  It was a long and wonderful chat where he came to grasp grace.

On Wednesday I spent an hour online getting conversations started, but no opportunities to share the gospel.  People were resistant (like a Muslim from Palestine) or would bail on me early.

Later I spent a couple hours online with the Aussie team.  My first chat of note was with two young ladies (one of whom did all the talking).  She had seen some of the video’s on TikTok and was excited to be talking to me.  She heard the law and the gospel and said, “Thank you for that message” at the end.  Next a very thoughtful young 14 year old guy followed the logic of what I was saying - something he hadn’t heard before.  After I’d shared the gospel, I asked him if he had any questions.  He thought for a moment and then said, “no, this is one of the more interesting conversations I’ve had with a random stranger.”

Another young muslim was next, this one from Egypt.  Friendly but resistant.  Then a Catholic girl who was trusting her good deeds.  She came to grasp the gospel and seemed deeply impacted.

There were more chats.  Praise God for the wonderful opportunities to share his love.
 

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A busy Sunday afternoon of outreach.  There were lots of Christians out sharing the gospel.  At least four churches were represented.

I turned up slightly early and before I knew it one of my old regulars appeared.  I was grateful I remembered his name.  Sadly he is homeless again.  The last time I talked to him, he was still resistant to the gospel - denying the logic of the reality of God.  And nothing has changed.  At least he was willing to sit down and talk to me.

By this stage, Sophie and her brother had arrived.  It’s so good to have Sophie back after over a year overseas.  Welcome back Sophie! :)

I was just starting to show them the new flip chart when we were interrupted by a man.  He was deeply hurting - he had lost his wife in the Mosque shooting last year!  He was rejecting his religion, not able to comprehend why God would allow such a tragedy.  I did my best to listen to this guy, and express my care and sympathy - he accepted a sideways hug from me.  I did my best with my words, knowing that cold hard logic is not always the best.  I was able to touch on the hope of the gospel, and answer some of his questions about suffering.  He had to move on, but he accepted a tract, with an explanation of how he can get in touch.

By this stage more Christians were turning up - many who were new to street evangelism.  So I did a quick demo of the flip chart.  A crowd draws a crowd, and in the middle of my presentation I had people from the street getting involved!

It wasn’t long before I was into a conversation with four teens.  Christians gathered to watch.  It was a great chat with the teens asking great questions and giving me great opportunities to demonstrate things I’d been explaining in the training earlier.

After this, other Christians took over the running of the flip chart, and I paired up with Sam for some walk up evangelism.  We had quite a few rejections, but managed to have two conversations.  The first was with a guy who was stoned (according to Sam) - that might explain why he didn’t seem to be grasping what I was sharing!  The second was with a guy who was resistant.  I did my best to share the gospel.

On Saturday I was online with the Aussie team.  I live streamed first.  I had a conversation with a group of guys who included works in their explanation of why they would be going to heaven.  So I shared the law and the gospel.  They didn’t disagree - one even seemed impressed with the way I explained it.  Another wanted to chat further.  We were talking about the bad things that can be encountered on the online service we were using - and so I explained the tools I had in place to protect me.  I was shocked to learn, at this point, that he was a youth pastor!  I was grieved.  By this stage, the guy impressed with my gospel explanation had left the view of the camera.  Oh God, convict them - save them!

Later, while no longer live streaming, I had a great conversation with a Jewish boy who was religiously all over the place (post modern, reincarnation).  He was smart and was also impressed with the gospel presentation I gave.  He called me a scholar!  But he was completely unimpacted by the wonder of the gospel.  Just so grieving.

And yet, I had at least two gospel conversations where the person I was talking to did seem deeply impacted. The second guy thanked me - “it was what I needed to hear”.

Glory to God alone.  Lord, thank you for using us, in spite of us.
 

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On Thursday I was online for most of my outreach time.  Andy was at the Eastgate bus stops and then online.

My first conversation of note was with a young lady who’s only reason for going to church meetings was because her parents made her.  She didn’t want to go because it’s boring.  I asked her what she thought she had to do to go to heaven, response: “ask Jesus into your heart”.  So I asked her what that means.  She thought for a moment… she didn’t know.  So I proceeded to share the law and the gospel.  She was intrigued.  At one point she said: “keep preaching”.  At another point, someone came into her room - often an interruption like that can end a conversation, but it didn’t she waited for them to leave, then turned back to our conversation.  People want to talk about this stuff - they really do.  Thanks to God for these opportunities to share his glory!

Another conversation with another young lady - this one from the UK.  She started the conversation by asking if I was her grandpa!  I often get that.  But I simply asked her what she thought happened after life, and she was quickly engaged in gospel conversation.  It was such a joy watching the wonder of understanding shine out of her face when she really started to grasp the good news!  (The picture doesn’t show it as well as the video.)

Lord, I leave these ladies in your hands.

Later in the day I had two separate chats with Christian guys.  The first guy indicated that his faith was dependent on his feelings - I zeroed in on this and explained why that was a bad idea.  Our faith should be in Jesus’ sacrifice as the only reason we are saved - which we learn about in the objective word of God found in the Bible.  He really appreciated the advice, and said he would talk to his pastor.  The second guy just needed clarity in his understanding of the gospel and then encouragement in his battle with sin.  Again, I pointed him to God’s word: the Bible - feed on it daily.

On Friday, it was all quiet on the western front for the gospel + abortion outreach.  We had yet another newbie join us.  I feel like we have weathered a bit of a storm and it’s so wonderful seeing the team start to grow!

Andy did a fantastic job preaching in Cathedral Square before the team moved to Cashel Mall for a couple of hours.

Before I even got out of the Square I fell into a conversation with a couple of guys - one of whom had already been talked to by an evangelist recently.  They were keen to talk, esp. The one who had already been talked to.  It felt like a divine appointment the way the conversation got started.  Anyway, I was able to share the law and the gospel, and then put urgency into my call for them to respond.  They left with tracts.

In Cashel Mall, I had a lovely chat with a lady who’s family is heavily Mormon.  She knew she was a bad person, so I didn’t labour the law for long before moving to the gospel - she seemed very open to it.  She hugged me before she left.

Later I talked to two young guys who it seemed were there just to argue.  I laboured with them, but their arguments were so weak they started saying absurd things - like justifying Stalin’s atrocities.  I ended the conversation.

Andy and I spent some time online with the Aussie team to end the day's outreach.
 

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Tuesday: I was online before heading to Riccarton.

Online: two conversations stand out in my mind.

In the first one, I used the new way of sharing the gospel that Ryan showed me during training Sunday.  It’s more concise and utilises questions throughout that attempts to get the  person to really think through what is being explained.  I was really encouraged to see the penny drop early for this guy!  I’m going to work on memorising this technique and then rebuild my gospel sharing workflow.  I’ll aim to stick to the concise method, and pull in the other tools as I need them.  Constantly wanting to get better at sharing the gospel - but will ever be dependent on God using my feeble efforts to his glory!  I’m so grateful to be around a team of evangelists equipping and encouraging me.

The second conversation was with a young lady from Canada wearing a mask.  She often thinks about what happens after life, and so was quickly engaged in the conversation.  Glory to God, the gospel made sense to her, and then her questions started rolling!  She esp. had questions about the paranormal, demons and angels.  She started following needGod.net on Instagram and was keen to download a Bible onto her phone, start reading, and find a local church.  I leave her in God’s capable hands.

Roger joined me at Riccarton (pictured).

The highlight conversation was with a young man who was trying to do skateboard tricks out of busy car traffic! :O  I was able to strike up a conversation with him.  It turns out he had grown up in a Christian school environment - so I asked him, “what do you understand a Christian has to do to go to heaven?”  His answer: “be good”.  He had tried to meet the standard, but failed (as we all do) so had given up.  Sadly, although friendly, he was very resistant to the good news of the gospel.

Wednesday: I was in the city before joining the Aussie team online.

In the city, I hadn’t even made it to the Square before I saw an old workmate.  He stopped and we ended up having a long chat.  As we talked, a number of my “regulars” would go past.  I managed to interact with some of them and this made an easy bridge to talk to my old workmate about the gospel.  He doesn’t believe in the trinity - so we discussed that for a while, before I decided to steer the conversation towards justification.  He had a different understanding of the word “faith” than I did - and in the end he said he was trusting his faith to get him to heaven!  He had to get back to work, but I was able to point him to the sixty second video clips on the social media accounts of needGod.net as examples of people coming to a proper understanding of faith.

I had a great chat with a couple of teens across the river from Oxford Terrace.  One of them had grown up Atheist, but had been investigating religions including Christianity - he had a reasonably good grasp of the concept of justification by faith alone, but not a complete grasp of what that faith needed to be in, which I was happy to explain.  It was great watching the penny drop.

I had a number of chats in Cashel Mall and before I knew it, my time was up!

I headed home to go online.  I was first up to live stream.  I had a string of difficult conversations - but that is okay!

Thank you for your prayer and support of the Christchurch (NZ) team! :)
 

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During the weekend, apart from an hour of letterboxing Christmas tracts, I was online.

In the morning on Saturday, the highlight conversation was with a lady from Colorado who labeled herself neo pagan.  She really liked to talk, and was telling me about all the things she believed.  I would gently interrupt her to ask her how she knows these things to be true and then I’d listen to her avoid answering the question.  But I didn’t let her off the hook, I just kept coming back to it.  I explained how we know that God exists, and then moved into the law.  She didn’t like the direction it was going and doubled down.  The last statement she said was: “I will not submit to your God - ever”.  May the conversation provoke her, and may she have further opportunities to wrestle with the truth - God have mercy on her soul.

Later in the afternoon, I joined the Aussie team for a couple of hours.

First up I was talking to a sharp thinker - even while drunk!  He was deeply resistant.  He allowed me to explain how we know God exists and then the law but wouldn’t let me get any further.  He bailed on me.

I then had a long chat with Muslim from the States.  He came to understand the gospel, but he politely rejected it - even though he couldn’t explain how God can be merciful in such a way that it doesn’t compromise justice.

Next up was a chat with a Christian guy who seemed to really appreciate the way the gospel was presented.  We focused our discussion on the motivation for doing good works - gratitude, not salvation.  And why we would want to discipline ourselves.

The last conversation I have a record of was one with a lovely lady.  She came to grasp the gospel and really appreciated it.  She had initially been hung up on the issue of homosexuality - so I was able to address this with her.

The picture is a collage of snapshots from each of those conversations.  Welcome to my world of talking to person after precious person about the gospel.  Praise God for the opportunity to do that.  Thank you to all those supporting this gospel effort!

On Sunday afternoon I decided to join up with the Aussie team for the training outreach.  It was great to be paired up with Ryan where I received much encouragement and sharpening - thanks Ryan!  It was a bit of a blur, but I remember the conversation with two Catholic girls the most.  They went from thinking that “going to church and doing your best” would get you to heaven, to understanding that only Jesus’ death on the cross would get you to heaven.  One of them asked me if I was Jesus!  It’s time for a shave!
 

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Thursday was wall day for me.  I didn’t know how I was going to face yet another conversation.  To get myself rolling, I decided to go online and start with text chats.  Matt & Hope joined me online soon after and I was able to get some encouragement from Matt (thanks brother).  I also listened to Hope sharing the gospel (with Matt training) - so encouraging listening to her!  She got into a conversation with a hard line Catholic and Matt decided to take over the conversation.

It was an absolute joy to watch Matt going to the word of God to reason with this Catholic over the subject of justification.  Ironically the Catholic contradicted his intellectual argument (works are required for justification) with the filthy language he was using!

I soon disengaged and got back to my own gospel conversations, I was rolling now!  I had a long conversation (thirty minutes) with a guy from India who just couldn’t grasp the wonder of the gospel of grace.  I persisted in labouring as long as I could.  It was very discouraging.  May he have more opportunities to engage with the gospel - may the Spirit cut through the hard soil!

I then joined Andy at the Eastgate bus stops.  I was a walking zombie, he was a kid in a candy shop, having gospel conversation after gospel conversation!  So awesome to watch and listen to his encouraging updates between conversations.

I managed to have some good conversations.  The one that really sticks in my mind was a long chat with a guy drinking beer.  He used to be a “Christian”, but had “given up”.  He had never understood the gospel.  A laboured with him.  By the end of the conversation, he was asking me what church I went to - I gladly gave him a contact card, along with a tract and an encouragement to pick up his Bible again.

Andy & I decided not to go to Northlands, instead we would finish the day online - it would give Andy another opportunity to get used to the new tools he has for online evangelism.

The afternoon online was hard work.  Another chat with a guy inoculated by false Christainty - I had to labour to get him to understand the gospel.  Then a young girl who had grown up in “Christanity” who when heard Matthew 5:21-22 her eyes went wide.  She came to grasp the gospel quite quickly, but seemed completely disinterested.  It grieved me.  I then had a twenty minute chat with an intellectual who became very frustrated and was very resistant.  His standard was himself.  He was the judge of the universe.

Friday started with the gospel + abortion outreach outside the hospital.  A lot of the regulars were away, but we had three newbies join us for a team of seven.  In God’s grace we had a quiet outreach.  I had one conversation with a young man who didn’t seem too well mentally.  He was racist.  I was able to touch on the law and the gospel with him before he walked off.

Lots of Christians, and not many hecklers in Cathedral Square.  Marty preached really well.

Later I preached as well and I attracted an Oriental Orthodox Christian heckler - who denies justification by faith alone.  I enjoyed engaging him in the public square.  Later I was able to sit down with him and try to reason - but he just wasn’t open.

To finish the day, I spent three hours online.

I had an encouraging chat with a guy from Florida, he seemed to come under some conviction and seemed to deeply consider the gospel, which I had reminded him of.  After this, I had a string of really good gospel conversations - praise God.

The highlight was with a nine year old boy.  When I first saw him, I felt really sad that he was “online”.  He was text responding only, and I was amazed at how fast a typer he was.  He seemed to be very smart - it turns out he has autism.  He believed in God, and he through his good deeds would get him to heaven.  So I started taking him through the law.  He burst into tears!  Such a sensitive conscience is very rare!  He really felt his sin.  So I quickly shared the balm of the gospel.  It was a wonderful conversation where he slowly came to grasp the gospel (he kept reverting back to “good deeds” initially).  I pointed him to needGod.net and the Bible.  And he agreed he wouldn’t go “online” anymore.  I asked him to talk to his aunty (who looked after him) about the conversation we had had.  Oh Lord, save this young man for your glory.
 

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On Wednesday, my first decent gospel interaction was at the corner of Cashel and High.

I approached a middle aged guy who was open to talk about deep things.  We talked about how we know God exists, and why there must be hell.  I was just taking him through the law when his wife (I assume) approached.  She had been shopping, he had been waiting.  She looked pretty shocked that he was talking to me.  I tried to include her in the conversation, but she didn’t want to have anything to do with it!  She said she was heading off, and was surprised when they guy didn’t follow - he wanted to talk about the deep things of life!  She walked off.  I didn’t want to come between them, and so I told him there was really good news in the tract I had given him - I summarised it briefly just before he turned to leave.

I turned in the other direction, and there was a young guy sitting just across from me.  So I striked up a conversation.  He was tentatively keen to chat.  He wanted to go to heaven when he died, but it was deeply rooted in him that his goodness would get him there.  I would explain the good news, and it seemed to deflect off - checking questions confirming.  As I was labouring with him, we were suddenly interrupted by two drunks!  I recognised one of them well - the last time I talked to him he seemed to be grasping the gospel well.  I was very sad to see him in such a state now.

The drunks didn’t scare off the young guy I was originally talking to, and I was able to keep labouring with him.  But he just didn’t seem to be grasping the gospel!  Amazingly, the drunk guy would answer correctly for him when I’d ask something like: “So what’s the reason why we can go to heaven?”  The young guy finally moved on, tract in hand.

I was then able to focus back on my drunk friend.  His other friend seemed to have ditched him.  He was making a real fool of himself, lying on the footpath and making people walk around him.  I took some photos of him, and he wanted to see them.  I said I’d show them to him if he came and sit next to me - it worked!  We sat and talked for a while, during the conversation he would show me ripped up bits of Bible pages he had in his pockets.

I really want to help this guy more, I’ll be praying for him, and hope to see him again real soon - hopefully in a sober state and able to reason properly.

Further down High Street I encountered an older gentleman who was keen to chat.  He was friendly and talkative, but deeply, deeply resistant to any kind of reason or logic.  I felt defeated and useless.  In the end I let him talk and listened to him, before gently ending the conversation and parting ways.

On Tuesday I was in Riccarton as usual and Roger joined me.  At the start of the outreach I was pondering on why people bother stopping to talk to me at all - it’s amazing, to me, that they do.  Sure enough, it was an outreach with good opportunities to engage people with the gospel.  With one guy, I was able to get all the way through the flip chart - it was a great chat, he was very open.

But the highlight conversation was a follow up with a guy that it turns out Andy had been talking to on Friday in the city!  Previously involved in gangs and crime, it seems he has turned a new leaf and is now a Christian.  But sadly, and amazingly, he seems to be subtly trusting his righteousness to get to heaven - even quoting Muhammad Ali!  I worked with him on this, him being both open and resistant at the same time.  Time will tell where he’s really at.  I hope to see him again.

I was online both days as well.  The highlight conversation was with a very intelligent young man who was agnostic.  The conversation went for nearly thirty minutes.  I was despairing that he wouldn’t open up (they usually don’t).  But to my surprise he did open up slightly.  I could tell he was challenged and needed to follow up on what I’d been telling him.  And, I was able to touch on the law and the gospel multiple times!

All glory to God.  Lord, keep us going, day by day, by your grace.  Help us to trust in you in the face of opposition and hardness.
 

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Saturday I spent two hours online in the morning, and two hours online in the afternoon.  In between I watched this super encouraging video on YouTube.

My last conversation of the day was with someone using a professional looking microphone - I wondered why, but figured I had nothing to hide and proceeded with my usual attempt to share the gospel.  He was a very thoughtful guy and gave good responses.  Slowly, but surely I was able to work him through the logic of how we know God exists, and why there must be a place of punishment after life: hell.  He heard the law, and then I moved to the gospel.  He had a very encouraging “ah ha” moment as he came to grasp it!  At this point he really opened up.  He mentioned something about being at a crossroads.  So I said it was no accident God had paired us up out of 50,000 people.  He started weeping.  I reflected afresh in my awe of God and his amazing Gospel.  I asked the guy if he had any questions, and he said: “You’ve answered questions I didn’t even know I had”.  Glory to God!  My hope is that those tears were tears of repentance - but that is God’s job, not mine, so I decided to leave him, after pointing him to needGod.net.

I felt overjoyed!  The wonderful opportunities we are having to share the gospel, and see it deeply impact people.  Glory to God, it’s so wonderful.

Andy and I headed into Cashel Mall on Sunday after church for a couple of hours.  Andy is becoming a “walk up” pro.  As soon as he finishes a conversation, he seems to be straight into another! All that’s needed is some gentle boldness.  People want to stop and talk!  Pictured are a few of those conversations.

Andy got into a great conversation with some Christian kids out doing healing evangelism, he pulled me into the conversation and we ended up giving them a demo of the flip chart and how the gospel message is the only power of God to save.  Healing and apologetics are great - but they don’t save people.  Only God does, and he condescends to do so through us sharing the gospel.  It was a great chat, and there were handshakes all round.  I invited them to get in touch and join us out on the streets!

An interesting conversation for me was with three people heading out to busk with a guitar.  They were intrigued by the flip chart, and I was completely upfront with what it was about.  As we worked through the law, they became very resistant - they wanted to insist on their goodness getting them to heaven.  I verbally came alongside them and tried to coach them that there was good news for those that were humbled by the law, rather than fighting it.  Sadly, it didn’t work.  They insisted that they would be going to heaven, simply because they didn’t want to go to hell!  They disengaged, and I knew it was futile to persist.  They all took tracts.

Thank you for your continued prayer and support of the street / online work of Operation 513. :)
 

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Thursday: Online in the morning before joining Andy at the bus stops.  Northlands and then Eastgate.

One of the most interesting conversations I had was with a young high school student from the Philippines.  He wanted to talk, but he was extremely softly spoken.  I took him through the law and the gospel, and he conceded to the logic of what I was saying.  I then moved into checking questions and I wasn’t surprised when he gave “good works” as the reason he would be going to heaven.  So I tracked back and started trying to explain things in different ways.  It wasn’t that he was disagreeing with me, but every time I would ask a checking question, he would rebotically respond with “good works”.  It’s the first time I’ve really encountered someone so entrenched in their thinking.  Early on I learned that this guy was one of Jehova’s Witnesses, and eventually he said, “we don’t believe in hell”.  It was an extremely difficult conversation: I was standing in an awkward spot, I could barely hear what he said, and I was feeling pretty tired.  I ended up giving up :(  But looking back that was wrong.  He wanted to talk - I should have calmly persisted.  Five minutes later, his bus came and he left.  He had a tract.

Friday started with the abortion outreach.  It was sunny, but the wind was strong and cold.  So strong in fact that we could barely hold our signs without the wind trying to whip them out of our hands!  Andy and I had been discussing repentance when a guy came to shake our hands and talk with us.  We have talked to this guy many times before, but I moved the conversation to the gospel again.  I explained how we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross - he seemed to understand, and so I explained the concept of repentance.  It was interesting seeing his response, he instantly started saying, “yeah, I need to try harder”.  I can’t be sure, but was he thinking he needed to try harder to be saved?  So I re emphasised justification by grace through faith.  The take away for me is that everyone we talk to is different, and finding the right balance in explaining faith, repentance and obedience in relation to salvation can be quite a tightrope.  But we must labour to get people to understand the paradox clearly and correctly!

Due to the strong wind turning our signs into sails, we decided to cancel the outreach early.  Andy and I headed back to his place, where I got him set up for online evangelism on his new computer.  Andy had a long friendly chat with a Muslim who was keen to engage, but ended up being resistant to the gospel.

We headed back into the city for open air preaching in the Square.  There were eleven Christians there, and only one heckler!  The heckler was in a deep one to one conversation with one of the Christians, so the preaching proceeded unopposed.

I decided to hand out tracts and I ended up getting into a wonderful conversation with a lady passing by.  She was Catholic and confident she would be heading to heaven because she is a “good person”.  I just said, “well, if it’s good deeds that gets us to heaven, then I’m not going there”.  She was intrigued, and came back to talk to me.  It was a short conversation, but I was able to explain the gospel, and how we are justified by grace through faith, and not by works.  It started to really click on the second explanation.  She had to go, but she seemed genuinely impacted by the conversation.  Thank you Lord.

After some more one to one gospel conversations, we moved to Cashel Mall.  It was great to have Binu and Graeme with us.

I didn’t bring the flip chart due to the wind.  Andy and Graeme were busy in walk up conversation after walk up conversation.  I had two highlight walk ups.

The first was with a guy sitting near the Bridge of Remembrance.  He had a Catholic background but didn’t seem to be convinced by it all.  So I took him through the logic that there is a God and a hell, and then through the law and the gospel.  He listened and asked great questions.  He then made this statement: “you shouldn’t be sharing it like this, people will think they can live their lives any way they like”!  He was understanding the grace of God!  So I then explained the concept of repentance to him (mainly using the fireman analogy).  He seemed genuinely impacted and thankful, he shook my hand a few times.  I could tell he had some thinking to do.  Lord, change him by your grace!

The second conversation was with a Muslim teen girl.  It was a long, respectful conversation with a focus on how God can be both just and merciful, and how Christianity has an answer, and Islam does not.  She started asking wonderful questions related to the Bible and the Quran.  I ended up pulling Andy into the conversation who is reading the Quran at the moment.  She agreed that she needed to read the Bible and find out what it says.  Suddenly, two girls butted into the conversation.  They focused on the Muslim teen and asked: “are you ok?  You don’t have to listen to these men if you don’t want to, you can walk away”.  I was deeply hurt by the insinuation.  But I just stepped back - I wasn’t holding her against her will, I would let her decide if she wanted to keep talking to us.  Not surprisingly, she did want to keep talking to us, much to the shock and hatred of the two ladies who left but kept watching from a distance.  The conversation was pretty much over anyway.  We gave her four types of tract, including “Which One?” and explained how she could get a Bible in a language that suited her.  It was so wonderful talking to a very bright minded young lady.  Lord, we leave her in your hands.

Andy and I finished the day of outreach online with the Brisbane team.  It was so great having Andy joining us!

Thank you for your prayers and support of the Christchurch (NZ) team!  God bless you.
 

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