Greg, I appreciate you hitting up a thread for this video. I miss you brother. I also thank God for you and this website.
I figured I would add a little bit about what I posted on the GNN board...
Getting there was a.... let's just say "challenge". (Thanks Robert... Just kidding bro, I love you)
We finnaly arrived and witnessed on the ferry, when Robert got up to preach, he was shut down. The officer accused him trying to start a riot. The people were almost all sleeping, even when giving out money. Oh well.
We asked the gaurds in the ferry station about preaching and they were cool with it as long as we stayed to one side. I spoke to the crowd of about 30 or so. It was well recieved.
Passing out tracts as people unloaded the ferry was a lot of fun. We passed out hundreds of tracts in minutes. We had some good one to ones, I recorded an interview with three young guys that went very well. The very first one to one I did on the ferry, I thought I was going to get a "decision". I didn't want to push, but I did press for him to get right with with God that night, he was not promised tomorrow. I think we all found the folks in NYC to be very open to speaking with us.
We left late that night, and being pressed for cash, we decided to knock on the door of a really big church. As Shawn said, we couldn't sleep inside, but we did try to crash in the car in the lot. Actually me and Shawn tried to camp in the bushes. They showed up a few minutes after we were comfortable, and gave us money for a hotel. We got lost looking for one and about an hour and a half later we found one. Thankfully this one didn't charge by the hour.
The next day we went to the ferry station again and to our dissappointment, we couldn't preach inside. We passed out lots of tracts and hopped on the boat. I asked the gaurd on board if I could speak and he agreed. He even pointed me the best spot to do it. So I went up front and called for the attension of everyone. I gave away a few bucks and then just told everyone who I was and what I wasnted to do, preach. I gave away a dollar to anyone who would like it. A little girl came running up and I was pleased, child like faith. She had no pride, so I spoke on that for a minute. I then just preached and teached all the way untill we reached the shore (too many rhymes there). It was almost too encouraging, I got one too many AMENs from the crowd, I though it was church. When I told the crowd I had free gospel tracts for everyone, they rushed us and we couldn't pass them out fast enough.
We went to Battery Park where we saw two street performing brothers do a show. I took a lot of really good tips for working a crowd. I tried to do an open air but the crowd was pitiful. I was dissappointed to say the least. As I was breaking down my easel, three women waved me down... (it does happen occasionally)
So these three, dear, elderly women...
Said how much they appreciated what I was doing and that they were believers who watched WOTM. I gave them a copy of HBKS and TF Conversions. They almost had tears in their eyes they were so touched. They left and then a minute later came back and placed $30 in my hand. She was so moved that they all gave me a big hug. So I was encouraged, especially after such a tough crowd.
So we walked a ways to ground zero and passed out tracts at the top of some subway stairs. (see the vid of Shawn sliding down the rail for the sake of the gospel) We did this for a while. I should note that this is now at least 4 hours after I preached on the ferry and over a mile from the ferry station, in a city of millions of people. A guy walks up the subway stairs and I hand him a tract and he looks at me and shouts that I am the guy who was speaking on the ferry! And that he was just telling some others he was with about it. So I asked if he remembered what was said and he actually did! I spoke with him about his day in court, he would be guilty, going to Hell, and it did concern him. I asked if he knew what God required of him, seeing Jesus paid the fine on the cross and rose again. He did. He said he needed to repent of his sins, and put his faith in Jesus Christ. I don't know if he did that day, but he thanked me profusely for telling him these things and gave me a big hug. I LOVE NEW YORK! What are the chances of that happening out of the maybe 200 who heard on the ferry compared to the millions in the whole city. It is no surprise with God.
After this we headed to Times Square. When we got off the subway I almost couldn't believe my eyes. There were so many people I almost didn't know what to do. Possibly one of the coolest things that happened all weekend happened next. We crossed a busy street corner along with a mob of people and I noticed this guy on the corner who was really excited passing out something. Normally I would have thought someone like this was probably a nut, but something just said, "No, this guy is the real deal." We all knew he was brother in the Lord before stepping onto the sidewalk. As we stepped onto the sidewalk, he just stopped what he was doing and looked at us like, "There you all are, c'mon, I have been waiting for you! Brothers! Let's pray!" So we held hands and I though this guy was going to pray down an earthquake! As he prayed, he said exactly why we were there. After, he gave us a sermonette. When we were telling him what we were planning on doing all day, he just gave us this, "Of course I know what you are doing here..." kind of answer. This man was definitely Spirit filled. (there is a short clip of him on Shawn's video, I think he is originally from Africa. He reminded me of Sarkov in Toronto)
So off we went to fulfill what we came there for. We preached in Times Square at a few different locations. The crowds were enormous. At one point on 7th, the police said if we had crowds that big again, he was going to ask us to move. I was able to stir up one atheist heckler. I finally have realized more perfectly how to keep a crowd. There must be tension.
It was getting late so we decided to take off. Bruce got locked outside of the subway car as we were all inside. You should have seen the look on his face as we all looked at him through the window of the car as the train took off. It was priceless. To be honest, I probably would have cried if I were him. The story is somewhat long, but we finally found him. He ended up selling two Giant Money tracts for a quarter a piece to use a pay phone to call Jon's cell phone. We headed out and ended up sleeping in the car at a rest area. The next day we went to a church and then took off back home. This was probably the most memorable trip I have ever had. Who knows how much of an impact this had on eternity. I thank God for the brothers on this trip. You are a real blessing and encouragement to me. It was a real blessing seeing one guy get up and do open air for the first time. I did have to leave bootprints on his back to get him up there, but I know he will be hooked for life! I truly thank God for all of your prayers, they were felt in a huge way. God's hand was all over this trip. Keep plowing and planting.
Miles
p.s. If you haven't seen the video yet, you must! It is awesome! I am sure seeing Shawn slide down the rail passing out tracts will have you in tears as well. Tracts went so well in NYC that you can see our secret method of "tract shootin" in slow motion in the video.
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Miles Lewis
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