No cops, no hecklers, nice crowds March 25, 2005
As I was on the highway entering Fort Worth I hear on the radio severe thunder and lightning watch for Dallas/Fort Worth. As I continued driving drops of rain started hitting my windshield. I wasnt sure if anyone would come out to witness if it rained or if there would even be anyone to witness to. As I parked my car and started walking the streets it started to pour. But it didnt last long and before long the team had all arrived and it had stopped raining.
Jon Speed came with his easel, displays, and fake corpse. I havent been able to use an easel and displays since all of mine were stolen with my car. Jon broke the ice with some open-air and had a very nice size crowd of 20 or so. While he preached, there were about three cops on another corner watching the whole time. Then when he finished they were still there. I refused to preach until they left, having too many legal problems as it is. They soon left and I stood up to preach. A nice crowd gathered when I started giving out money of course. After much exploring Ive discovered that the absolute best way to draw a crowd out on the streets and to get the crowd to interact, without a shadow of a doubt, is by giving away money and taking someone through the good test.
The first girl I took through the test seemed very convicted and admitted to being a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart and also admitted she would be guilty on judgment day and go to hell. It was my pleasure to tell her all about the grace of God. When I asked her what was holding her back from getting right with God tonight she said nothing. To make sure she knew what it meant I asked if she really was ready to turn away from every single sin and she said yes. She seemed a bit uncomfortable when I offered to pray with her so I encouraged her to get alone with God and get her heart right.
The second open-air went well also. A nice size crowd gathered around and I talked back and forth with a guy named Dusty. He was a bit harder saying God will forgive everyone no matter what. When I asked deeper he said even Hitler will automatically be forgiven on Judgment Day. Quoting from Rev 21:8 I showed how it wasnt biblical. Dusty, I cant give you the $10 because you didnt pass the good test, but I have something even better to give you and it is the truth. (sound familiars? "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. Then I was able to preach out of my heart on hell, sin, judgment, and Christ crucified and the crowd stayed and listened.
Lazarus also opened up some great one-on-one conversations. As people would stare at the fake corpse, one of us would ask a question like what do you think happens when you die or what will you do when youre in that position? There were two young couples who were constantly hugging and touching each other that I was able to talk to. When describing repentance I made up an illustration. Imagine youre on a ship sailing the ocean when all of the sudden it is struck by a rock and it starts sinking fast. There is a life preserver which you can put on, the only problem is that the coat you are wearing is too big and the preserver cant fit around it. What are you left to do? Take off the coat of course and put on the preserver because before you know it youre going to be in the water. In the same when life has been struck with the curse of death because of sin, and it is sinking fast. Before you know it we are all going to be in eternity and we need Christ our life preserver. But the coat of sin is too big and you cant wear it and wear Christ. You must pick one or the other. So you must take off the coat of sin and put on Christ the life preserver. I asked if they understood and they said yes. After answering a few more questions they left with some things I dont think they ever thought about before.
Throughout the night we had given out a ton of tracts. We really need to spread out because well have like 10 Christians on one corner all trying to give out tracts. We called it a night earlier then normal and left around 10:45pm or so. I measured the distance that it is there and back from my house and it is 240 miles. It was a great night. We had no problems with the police, we had no hecklers, but we had nice crowds of listeners and thinkers. |