Brothers,

Sorry if any of this is causing confusion, my intial response was not proper and my second repsonse was more in line with my heart and where I am at. I am by no way perfect or know everything. And going on with Jesse's point I have never stood on a milk crate and given the gospel out loud to many. I have though done much 1-1 witnessing and also witnessing in crowds of 5-10 people many times. My personal heart desire is to start to open air preach as the Lord will equip me to. Truly I need Him to do anything "for without me you can do nothing."

I would say that I am not naturally gifted as an orator and public speaker but the Lord definetly is blessing me with an unction from above at times and I pray that as He works I can be confident in [b]His working[/b] in me to preach the gospel. I am so dependent on Him brothers...

I was just reading about a man Henry Alline here is a small excerpt:

"He [b]preached the new birth powerfully and effectively[/b] and his admirers compared him to George Whitefield and John the Baptist. Considered an emotional and dangerous fanatic by some and a ‘ravager of congregations,’ the Congregationalists withdrew his right to preach in their churches, so he spoke in barns, houses and the open air. In all he began eight ‘New Light’ Congregational churches based on his non-Arminian but anti-Calvinist views of free-will and predestination, and his strong rejection of outward religious form."

John the Baptist as far as I know wasn't into point sermons but was so in touch with God that He preached with conviction and the result was people were convicted. I am longing for that same type of preaching where people are convicted under the words of the man of God and He isn't just trying to pull a few jokes after to calm the conviction. As brother Robert W. on this site has been studying REPENTANCE for about 1 year (rightly so), I think many of us need to do the same. This world needs a different type of preaching not just in words but in the heart message. If we are not holy our words will fall to the ground off peoples hearts but if we are in prayer, holy, filled with the spirit our words [b]should[/b] pierce like arrows of the Almighty.

I am not trying to sound too high-sounding and impossible and please do not be discouraged brothers, I really think we need to spend the time in prayer and earnestly desire for this type of unction on our lives if we are going to preach open-air. That does not mean stop open air preaching as you all have been, but to readily desire from God that type of power and unction to see repentance and brokeness. Perhaps God is not giving it to us because we can't handle it and will think its [b]us[/b] somehow.

Please continue all with all the strength of God in you brothers to preach open air, no one else is doing it, its vital. But please also seek the Lord earnestly for apostolic preaching and power.

Acts 6:4 - But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

I am not sure of your intrepretation of this verse but many times before I thought of the apostles equipping people to do all the hard work (evangelism, waiting on tables, dealing with people) and they became tower theologians keeping the doctrines of the church proper. How amiss I was, I believe the Holy Spirit just showed me that they gave them continually to prayer that their "ministry of the word" would be powerfully effectual amongst the saints AND amongst the unbelievers (open air preaching, teaching).

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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon