SWAT TEAM Springfield, MO Witnessing- 4/07/06

Street Witnessing And Training
Taking Evangelism Across Missouri

Friday Night - 4/07/06 -- Park Central Square –
Downtown Springfield, Missouri

We had a very interesting time out witnessing Friday night in downtown Springfield, Missouri. There were 31 people out with our group. We had GNN Local Leader, Teresa Stevens from Joplin come over, GNN Seed Sowers David Lohn and Michael Borich, a couple of David's teenage sons – Luke and Nathanel - and two pastors that I met with a while back, Pastor Ron Burks and Pastor Gene Baker, their families, Glen Comstock and others that I cannot remember their names. (Sorry). These two pastors brought approx. 20 people with their group alone!! Praise God. It wasn't planned, but my friend and the Youth Pastor of our church came out, Brent Robison, as well as his wife, Marla Robison and their two kids. They were able to come out and see what happens when we get together to street witness and open-air preach.

During my open air preaching, I originally chose this teenager. He is from Germany. He refused to admit he was a liar. We moved on to see if he was a thief. He said no. I pressed him in his answer. He finally just turned around and walked away. We had to get another person to go through the Good Person Test. We went through the test and finished up. (as soon as I got to the lust question and mentioned Jesus, one of the guys that was up front turned and walked away quickly). I finished taking Lindsey through the 10 Commandments and ended pretty quickly due to the girl below.

One girl was upset and wanted to argue with me. She thought I was saying that we have to repent and never sin again. She was very confused and frustrated. Her friends tried pulling her away but I said it was okay, just let her talk. I said that to be born-again we are to repent of our sins, which means to not only be sorry for them, but to turn from sin. This doesn't mean that we will be perfect for the rest of our lives, but we will live for God and possibly fall into sin at times. If we do, we need to ask forgiveness.

David, Luke, Nathanel, John and I went walking around passing out tracts. A man I began talking to started off in all kinds of directions when I asked him if he was a liar. He reminded me of the WOTM episode where Kirk was talking to that guy and they fast forwarded the time and he never stopped talking. He talked about the bible says it was okay for slavery, it didn't mention the rights of women, etc. Finally I reminded him that he said I could ask him a few questions to see if he was a good person, and he agreed. Then his bus came and he had to leave before we finished. (we were off the bus property). He shook my hand and said he just wanted to see how committed I was by saying all of that.

This was written by Teresa Stevens: I spotted 3 young girls walking away from the square. I caught up with them. I offered them a million dollar bill gospel tract and asked them if they ever thought about what happens to after you die? We had a good talk. I took them through the law and grace. I could tell these girls were distracted. Jackie's mouth was stopped and I saw on her face contrition and wet eyes. Hannah was more distracted and I don't know how much she was hearing. These two girls were not familiar with much about the Bible. Then there was Abby. Abby started to ask questions (more like objections) and told me she was raised Catholic. She laughed at my answer to believing that the stories in the Bible were literally true. Please pray for Abby. Though she was interrupted by her cell phone buzzing several times she kept her focus on our conversation and didn't answer her phone! I gave them all "Are you good enough to get to Heaven." Tracts. I used the value of your eyes analogy and encouraged/warned them to make sure about their eternal salvation and they promised they would study to see if the things I was saying was true!

Michael and I went down the block and passed out tracts. We stopped one time on the way to talk to a guy and girl. Michael probably has more to tell about that.

When we went back to the square a young man (about 17) dressed in black with buckles, chain, and an upside down cross painted or tattooed at the corner of his right eye. I gave a million to Zack. He stopped! I told him that it had the million dollar question on it. He was willing to take the test. I went through the law. Zack said he would be guilty and it concerned him that he would likely end up in hell by that standard. When I explained the price Jesus paid for us by using WoTM illustrations, Zack was very contrite. He had moist eyes and it seemed he was trying to keep his conviction under control. Zack didn’t know how to respond to the idea of someone paying a price they didn’t owe even if it was their undeserved death as Jesus did.

He said he had accepted Jesus when he was 5 years old, but that someone had hurt him really bad and that was it for him. We used illustrations about what it is like to truly know Jesus. Analogies of before/after with driving, touching something hot, and a car with and without an engine to describe what it is like to be born-again. If you are you will KNOW IT beyond a shadow of a doubt. And I shared with him that if he did understand enough at 5 to be saved, then “did it make any sense that you would turn away from the One who paid the price you couldn’t pay just because someone” who was or claimed to be a Christian hurt you? He said no, it didn’t make any sense to turn away from the one who saved you because of someone else’s harm done.

As it seemed he was ready to accept Jesus I invited him to do so by saying, “What is going to keep you from doing so now?” He didn‘t have an answer but when I pressed some (I don‘t often do this) Zack said he had to think about it. I told him that I understood, but that I wanted to warn him that there was an enemy - satan - that would try to keep him from making this most important decision of his life. I encouraged/warned him that he couldn‘t guarantee how long he would live. I asked him if it made any sense. He said it did. Michael gave him a “Save yourself some pain“ and I gave him an “Are you good enough to get to Heaven” tract. We encouraged him to make the decision using the precious eyes analogy and told him that we were praying for him.
Pray for Zack, Hannah, Jackie, and Abby

This is from Pastor Ron Burks who went out with us:
"Pray for Micah, a young girl who said she is a gnostic but was once a Christian. I was able to show her from Romans 1 how she came to a point where she "chose" to reject the knowledge of God. She at least agreed to that. I also spoke with another young man who said he was "confused" about Christianity. He said he was saved at a young age but is not sure about his salvation any longer. He seemed very sincere. He was the tall kid with long hair making a lot of noise at some times. You probably saw him."

I heard from Michael that he and Teresa went to the bus station, the one we were ran off from last week. They were not noticed. I am in the middle of "negotiations" with the City Manger as to if the bus station is public property.

Here is what Michael wrote: After your open air, we headed out into the Friday nighters to pass out a variety of gospel tracts -- Big Money, million dollar bills, 10 commandment coins and Are You Good Enough To Go To Heaven. We met two MSU students. Teresa spoke with the young woman and had about a 15 minute conversation with her -- it appeared she went through the entire good news message. I spoke with the young man, an international student from Burkina Faso (west coast of Africa). He was Assemblies of God and a devout Christian, but he seemed so busy with his studies he had no time for fellowship, so I invited him to an International banquet on campus Tuesday that my wife is hosting.

We continued around the block -- so many people took gospel tracts. When we arrived at the bus station we probably passed out another 20 tracts. Teresa went through most of the good person test with an African American man who had to leave to catch his bus.

Just as we returned to the square we met a student at Hillcrest H.S. named Zach, who at the age of 5 made a semi-commitment to Jesus, but at that age, he had limited knowledge. He seemed a little fearful of what that meant to his life because he admitted he really wasn't living for the Lord. Teresa was very effective and loving with Zach, even inviting him to pray at that moment. He had tears in his eyes and his voice was so soft that the Holy Spirit seemed to be working on his heart. He did take some gospel materials, including Save Yourself Some Pain and said that he would very seriously consider everything we had talked about.

Then we spoke with another street evangelist, Mike and his family (3 women) for about 15 minutes, and he took Teresa's card and she he would check out GNN. He said that some of the young people at the square he spoke with wanted to do outdoor church at the square Fridays at 7 p.m.

Praise God for what He did tonight, and those he led us to speak to.

If you would like to come out and witness with us, we encourage you to do so.

In Christ,

Brad St. Clair
www.repentandturn.com
www.gnnlocalleader.com