Everyday Evangelism-September 17, 2009 - Updates

Lots of new ideas are on the horizon. I now have a blog page specifically made for people that I talk to and want to continue the conversation of the Gospel. The url is: www.thegospelconversation.blogspot.com . Well, I talked with a man named Mark over the weekend. Very nice to talk to and he seemed to be searching. I didn't get to go into all the specifics of the Gospel, but briefly touched on some things. I gave him some tracts and the new url also. I would love for anyone who feels so led to pray for him. He seemed to understand about God's sovereignty, and believed that our conversation was from God. A couple of days later, I was going to my car from an Office-Depot store and talked with a man, who I think is Jose. I was talking with him and he seemed very interested in hearing the Gospel, which he said he had never heard before. His cell phone went off, and he told the person on the other end, to call back in three minutes. The person called back a few minutes later and he really had to go. I gave him the How Good Are You? tract. When I opened the car door, I realized that I had a business card in my hand. I think he must have given it to me before he left. That is why I think his name is Jose. I found the email address and wrote out the Gospel for him and sent it on. Haven't heard back from him though.
Today I was at Publix for a really quick shopping trip. Had to go to pick up something to eat, go home, then pick up my son and leave for The Great Debate. Well, when I was emptying my shopping cart, one of the bag boys took the empty cart to bring it back into the store. I had a Million Dollar Bill tract rolled up in the cart. He saw the tract and started reading it. He said that he thought there was no way anyone could ever know for sure that they could go to heaven. Wow! If only I would have had more time I would have probably had a good conversation with him. I told him his question was a good one, and gave him a How Good Are You? tract. It is neat to see how God is working. I am praying that God will prepare the hearts of the people even before they get the tracts. Some of them have responded even before I give them the tracts. I love to see God at work. I'm looking forward to seeing what God will do in the coming days. Right now I have a little bit of time for Yoville, and things are happening there too. But I will save that for another blog entry.

Everyday Evangelism-September 11, 2009-Thoughts

"Will it be door number one, door number two or door number three?" Those are the words that one would hear while watching a game show in the 60's. That sounds a lot
like how people think their relationship with God should be. They assume that nobody really knows what God is all about, so, hey, lets just pick something to believe in. Maybe it will be right, or maybe it won't. Most of the time, people believe in a particular religion (or denomination) because they were raised that way, or, someone brought them into it, and it served them in some way. I recall a story of a great uncle of mine, who married a Jehovah's Witness. From what I understood, the woman became a Jehovah's Witness because one time she was very ill, and a group of them served her while she was sick. So there you go. Someone reached out to her because she had a need. Too bad we aren't more sensitive to people's needs like that. But we don't want people to come into our churches or fellowships because we served them (although God can use that to expose them to the Truth). We want friends and family to come to Christ because they have been convicted of their sin, and are looking for a way to be forgiven and delivered from their sin. We don't have to make a guess about what God said about Himself and our need for Him. We can read in the Bible how God sent His Son to us, to deliver us from our sin. He became the Ultimate Sacrifice for our sin. There is a reason why we believe in Jesus. And we can know what we believe in and why we believe it. It is not a guessing game without any information given to us. Jesus said that He is the way, the Truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father but through Him. How much clearer could it be? We know which door to pick. It is not door number one, two, or three. Jesus said that He is the door. The choice is now clear. Which door will you pick?

Everyday Evangelism-September 9, 2009

For those of you going to the Deeper Conference,please take special note of Greg Koukl. This man is so insightful on dealing tactfully with people, and speaking the truth in love. His teachings have helped me tremendously in having meaningful conversations with people. Here is his web site:
http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7557&cmd=display

Everyday Evangelism-September 1, 2009

Today I was at Walmart, as usual, and as I was getting ready to pay for my items, the cashier, a young African American lady noticed the MDB (million dollar bill tracts) that I had in my basket. I actually give cashiers, at least most of the time, a Giant Money tract, but this lady noticed the million dollar bill tracts. So she looked at the MDB and I said she could have it. She went back to the cash register (she was by my basket scanning a large bag) and she was reading the tract. I was concerned that people behind me would become angry. I explained that it was a Gospel tract. She did finish ringing up the items, but seemed a little disturbed. She couldn't seem to get over the fact that "lusting" was the same as "committing adultery". She seemed really concerned and I felt helpless in trying to help her. I asked her if she had a Bible at home, and she said she did. I encouraged her to read it. Now what I really wished I had was a web page set up, with the basic Gospel on it, that I could have given her the URL to. I wished I would have had made up business cards with my name and email address so I could have given that to her and encouraged her to email me with any questions she has. I think her name was Stacy if anyone would pray for her. I hope to see her again, or hope someone else will come along and share the Gospel with her.

Everyday Evangelism-August 25, 2009-Yoville

"Life has many choices. Eternity has only 2." "God is uncreated. He never had a beginning and has always been in existence." "150,000 people die every day. Where do they go?" and "Are you good enough for heaven? How good do you have to be?" What do these statements have in common? They are the quotes that I use in Yoville, a Face Book game that is similar to Second Life. I am not a game person and don't understand directions to games, so I am already challenged to play this game. But this game provides a way to come in contact with different people. There are different scenaries in Yoville, all of which, at some time or other, have people in them. The people have silly names some times, but behind every avatar (character) there is a human being that needs to hear the Gospel. Yoville is a game that has a city setting, and each person that creates a character, gets an apartment. Each character can earn money by going to the factory a couple of times a day. The people in Yoville are generally hardened to the Gospel, but some are interested. Usually, but not always, someone wants to be my buddy when I have gone out preaching the Gospel. You can see how deceived people are by their responses to the Gospel. Some of them think that sharing the Gospel is 'shoving God in their faces' as one person put it. But they don't understand it is good for them to hear the Gospel. That is how faith comes about. Only in eternity will we know how many people will be reached with the truths of the Gospel. We need to be faithful to find places where we can 'publish' God's word so people can see it. We need to pray that God will give them eyes to see with and that He will open up their hearts and minds to the Scriptures. Yoville is just one way to do that. There are many ways to reach people, and we need to look at ourselves and let God work His grace in our hearts, then, we can minister to others. And we need to use our talents and skills to bring glory to Him and tell others, in such a way, so that the cloud that is between them and God will dissolve and they will see Him more clearly.

Everyday Evangelism- Christmas Caroling Project Preparations

It is only 4 months until December and I decided it is time to get ready for the Christmas Caroling Project this year. We will need a group of people to meet together to sing and play instruments, as we visit homes in the month of December to bring our Christmas greetings to. We would like to represent Metro Life Church and minister to families, if possible, in the vicinity of the church building. We will take an evening and go door to door and sing the old Christmas carols that are based upon Biblical truths. Each family will receive a bag which contains a book, a toy with the Gospel message on it somehow, some candy and cookies, a bookmark, a bar of homemade soap, and whatever other suggestions people have. We will go to about 30 houses, and if we have enough people, we will divide up into 2 groups. Then each group will go to 15 houses, and when we are done we will come back to the host house. Anyone who lives close to the church building, say within 5-7 miles, would be a good candidate for hosting this event. We would love to sing to your neighbors and provide an open door for them to soften up to us and you, the host, so that should they have any questions, they would feel more comfortable about asking them. Last year, we had one lady who was very touched and started crying and opening up. The year before that we had a lady thank my son-in-law for the caroling and the bread, the day after we went caroling in his neighborhood. This will be a good opportunity to show hospitality for Metro, and will leave the book with them, "More Than a Carpenter" by Josh McDowell. Anyone interested in being part of this in any form, please let me know. Contact me. There is quite a bit of preparation and everyone can do something, so it won't become stressful for any one person.

Everyday Evangelism- 08/04/09-Yoville and Walmart

Well the Walmart idea didn't work out so well. I went to the manager and she didn't understand what a prayer station was, nor did she really care to find out. She just said that her manager only has Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts set up tables. But I have seen the prayer stations done at a park, so that is an idea I am going to look into. Another thing I am doing, is going into Face Book and one of the application programs is called " Yoville". It is like a chat room where they give you an apartment and ways to make money and a virtual city where you can go shopping and buy things to decorate your apartment. What they don't know is that it provides a great opportunity to chat with people and communicate the Gospel in the different parts of the town. The best place is right in front of the apartment building where the hot dog stand is. There are lots of other figures there, and each figure has a person behind it that needs to hear the Gospel. It is very similar to doing open air as there are hecklers there, and people try to distract by wanting you to play games with them. Others are interested and ask questions. I have one lady who was irritated because of my preaching, so she asked to be my buddy, to which I said yes to. She became my buddy so she could email me and let me know that she didn't like what I was doing. But she did have questions. In one of them she wanted to know what God has ever done for me. The other one she was asking wanted to know if I really cared for the people, or was I just saying that. When I was talking to the people in that area in front of the apartment building, I told them that I cared for them. I guess she wanted to make sure that what I was saying was really true. Anyway, it is cool to be out there and proclaiming the Gospel. I feel like I need to become part of this game so I can go into the world of these lost people. So, I invite those of you to join me in Yoville if you are my friend on Face Book.