Orlando Evangelism Boot Camp
Here is just a short outline. I recommend reading about day 4. [b]If you read nothing else, read day 4. [/b]
This boot camp put on by www.thegreatnews.com was more like Special Forces training then anything else. Although the Lord started us off slow, it escalated into some of the most intense witnessing Ive ever seen.
We were able to preach at places like downtown Orlando, University of Central Florida, and Daytona Beach during the Black College Reunion which attracted thousands of colleges students from all over to have a spring break type of event. We saw some of the most disgusting, disturbing, and depraved things going on, but we let our lights shine brightly for the glory of God.
Day One: This was arrival day. One of my favorite aspects of the Evangelism Boot Camps would have to be the Christian fellowship between the laborers. After preaching together and having these awesome experiences together you feel as though you know each other very well after only really knowing each other for a short period of time. I also have learned that prayer without evangelism is hypocrisy and evangelism without prayer is stupidity. So I lead a prayer meeting early each day for prayer which I wouldnt have traded for anything. We wept for the lost before we wiped with Gods Word. We left feeling full and charged up in the Spirit of the Lord. These boot camps are full of great fellowship and prayer but for this post Ill focus mostly on the evangelism to the unsaved.
Day Two:
Supposing there was a lake that had only 5 fish in it and you sent 40 fishermen to fish in that one lake, what are the odds of having an empty lake at the end of the day? It is very likely. Well all of us went to Daytona Beach during the day to discover there were few men to catch. Yet because people ended up being witnessed to multiple times, they eventually came under such heavy conviction that they sought relief in Jesus Christ. Those at these Boot Camps are not quick to say yes we got so and so many people saved today and so when I heard stories of salvations, I took it serious.
Two wild situations were the two restaurant open-airs. One was in Johnny Rockets and the other in Bubba Gump Shrimp. David Bird gave the workers in Johnny Rockets the challenge of eating 6 crackers in 60 seconds to win $50. No one can ever do it. Then he called on Diane to offer the good test. It was her first open-air ever and it was done in the restaurant. All the staff came over to listen! She preached and poured her heart out and the girl who she ministered to ended up seeking after the Lord in prayer with Diane in front of everyone! Then in Bubba Gump Shrimp Darrel was able to preach open-air to the restaurant and take a women through the good test and though she failed he paid for her tables dinner to show what Gods grace is like; giving what we dont deserve. Although the management ended up getting upset this time around, peopled walked up to Darrel tell share their appreciation!
Day Three:
This day we went to the University of Central Florida where there was even a stage with a microphone waiting for us in front of the Student Union Building. Many stood up and preached open-air for the very first time while others witnessed one-on-one and gave out tracts.
That night we had gone to downtown Orlando where many of us preached from a fire hydrant to hundreds who came for a good time. When there good time was revealed to be an abomination to God, we started getting hecklers. The hecklers were stirred up when they heard: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 - Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Few seemed ready for grace, and the majority that heard it did not receive it. Because the fire hydrant was so close to the road we thought that a man may push whoever was preaching into the road, but as weird as the hecklers got they never got violent!
Day four:
The sight at Daytona Beach was one of the most horrific sights I have ever seen in my life. I felt as though we were swimming through a filthy sewer. The hellishness was horrifying. Girls were walking around almost entirely exposed while some in their cars were actually exposed. Everywhere you turned you saw men walking up to girls who were complete strangers and molesting them without any resistance. We tried to preach and use the money way but men were so focused in on their drunkenness and fornication that we couldnt get or keep their attention that way. Trivia questions couldnt compete with the alcohol and women. We became just the buzzing of a bee in a jungle of animals. We couldnt preach the way we normally do in a park or in a pulpit because they were so blinded and in such a deep sleep, comfortable in their sin!! Walking the streets watching men with cameras (putting them in unspeakable places) and seeing women with almost no clothing stirred up righteous anger inside of many of us. Many of us got to the point where we realized that if we were ever going to get their attention and get Gods Word to them then we needed to shout out a wake up call and thunder the word of God.
To start if off I stood next to a crowd of maybe 10 guys all on 1 girl and preached You dogs! You adulterers and adulteress, the wages of sin is death! Etc etc In a short period of them they completely dispersed, the girl going one way and the guys going another. I thought that maybe she was saved from being gang raped, getting pregnant, or getting or giving aids. Shortly after that I preached to the guys walking past on the side walks. Right away a drunkard was walking by and heard what I said he spewed out Dont tell me you have never taken a 14 year old girl into the bushes and raped her. Dont try to tell me you have never done that!! I could not believe what I was hearing. I was absolutely appalled and disgusted. I told him that through Jesus Christ he could be forgiven but that the wicked shall be cast into hell.
Two brothers named Doug and Shawn came with me to find a place for open-air. There was a street corner that had lines of guys waiting for girls to walk. When girls would walk buy all the men would close in on them and molest them. I got so angry at sin and the devil that I started preaching right next to them: REPENT!!! Fornicators and adulterers God will judge. (Heb 13:4). You guys arent men! Look at you! You guys are dogs! (Rev 22:15). Women put your cloths on!!! Men put your cameras down!!! Drunkards pour out your alcohol!!! Turn to God and live. Unless you repent you will perish! Why are there thousands of people out here today to sin? The wages of sin is death. Turn to God and live!! Most of the men started to split when we publicly call them to repent of their blatantly obvious wickedness! We received many vicious hecklers. Doug and I stood back to back like a dulling duo. Back to back I preached down one way and he the other calling some of the hardest sinners to repent. The hecklers screamed I hate you! I _____ hate you! Im going to beat the ___ out of you. While we would respond God bless you. We love you guys. You can go ahead and beat us, but we want you to know that unless you repent your going to perish in the fires of hell for all eternity. We got to know what it means to love those who hate us and to bless those who curse us. One heckler tried to force me to drink his alcohol, but no one got violent and the cops even informed us that it was absolutely ok for us to preach.
Holdings our bibles high we walked the streets preaching repentances and declaring the judgment of God, I felt the Spirit of God. I dont even want to think about the amount of women who were raped or impregnated or woke up with Aids. It was much like Sodom and Gomorrah. In those cities hordes of men roamed the streets to find a man to rape, this day hordes of men roamed the streets to find women to molest and rape. I warned the women about the men and also warned the men about the women. I preached out of Proverbs 5 on the trap of immoral women. I had never seen so many ScareFace t-shirts in my life. Scareface is a movie about a murderous drug dealer thug. When we preached against their role models of ScareFace, Tupac, Biggy Smalls, (Tupac and Biggy both thugs who were murdered) it brought quite a stir out of them. Because there were thousands of people and we couldnt reach them all, I wish I still had my PS 7:11 God is angry with the wicked every day easel display which was stolen when my car was stolen. Though some will not read a tract or listen to open-air preaching, they will read a scripture on a display and that is a seed planted.
Thousands upon thousands were arrogantly and boastfully marching into the flames of hell. I wanted to cry. Re 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. The preaching was intense. Though we did preach grace, it was very little. We shared very little about the cross and Jesus Christ because they would have taken his blood and trampled it under their feet, we would have been casting our pearls among pigs. Had they humbled themselves and cried out what must I do to be saved we would have told them. But until they tremble at the thundering of Gods Law, they arent ready for it.
There were countless stories about this one day alone, with salvation stories as well. I had the privilege of praying with one man who wanted to be saved. Around 5 oclock we all headed back to the hotel for the graduation ceremony.
Day Five
This was it. The boot camp was over, the army had been trained; now it was time to take the fire back home to win the lost to Christ. The next boot camps are in New Zealand in June and L.A. in July.Ill be leading a team at the L.A boot camp and I hope to be able to rise up enough money and get enough supporters to go to the one in New Zealand as well. God is rising up many preachers in these last days to take the message of repent and believe to sinful and wicked generation.
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