IT WAS JUST THE RIGHT THING TO DO

One of the many ways we spread the gospel is by "car tagging" with our gospel tracts. 

When we go on our walks or when we go shopping, for example, anywhere where parked cars may be found sleeping, we slide a gospel tract under the driver's side front window wiper as we walk by.

I am sure there are those car owners who are genuinely relieved when they realize it's not a parking ticket. Then I am sure there are those who, after reading the tract, would have rather had a parking ticket.

Not long ago, Kim and I were driving home through our neighborhood when, at the same time, we saw a license plate on a parked car on the side of the road and we couldn't believe our eyes. Here's what we saw:

We laughed and pulled our car over as  knew exactly what we had to do:

Our glove compartment is always loaded with a variety of gospel tracts ready for any opportunity to hand out or leave somewhere. Our homemade "Are You Ready" gospel tract was the obvious choice here. It was just the right thing to do.

Oh, what fun there can be in evangelizing! And thankfully, as always, we were ready for the unexpected. 

SO, LIKE, YA KNOW, YA GOTTA, LIKE, SPEAK WITH CONVICTION

This is funny 3min presentation that bears truth and comedian Taylor Mali offers a great suggestion at the conclusion that every Christian who shares their faith with others should take note of.

CROSSWALK AT THE CROSSWALK

One festival, one corner, one evangelist, one cross...thousands of people. Cross evangelism does not come easier than this. All you have to do is be there! Here's a "quick" 2 minute look at what I mean:

KATRINA'S MUSINGS

We have a dear sister in Christ and friend of ours in Otsego, Minneapolis, by the name of Katrina Oseid.

We have not yet had the pleasure of meeting Katrina in person and we are not sure we will on this side of glory. We know her from her blog called Katrina's Musings.

Katrina is an avid and faithful evangelist in her town. She usually is found sharing her faith with others in various ways on her own. She utilizes an "Are You Ready" cross in some of her outings, speaks one on one with anyone who would be willing to listen, hands out tracts and, at times, even hands out homebaked treats to go along with the tracts. Food for the body and food for the soul.

She has a quiet and gentle approach to her evangelism and she is able to do that without compromising on the truth of the gospel. Many of her stories are up-close, personal and heartwarming.

Whether the townspeople know it or not, Otsego is blessed to have someone like Katrina, whose love for the Lord and concern for others is demonstrated in her willingness to lovingly share the Good News to all the Holy Spirit leads her to and to those who the Spirit brings to her.

You would do well to peruse through Katrina's Musings. A very encouraging blog to say the least.

Here is a sample: 


FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2011

Evangelism Focus 07/15/11

I mentioned last Friday that I visited my brother's friend in the hospital. Click hereto read that post. I visited two times. On both visits, Jeff (my brother's friend) was unresponsive (awake but not able to communicate, he had spent some time without oxygen to his brain, and there was the appearance of brain damage). At the point I first visited him, he had been in the ICU at the hospital for 12 days.

I also mentioned that I left the hospital (on both accounts) pleading with God to have mercy on him and allow him to hear (and understand) the gospel one more time.

I stopped back today, a week from my first visit. I was very self-conscious about visiting him for the third time when I hardly knew him. I considered leaving at least three times while I was in the waiting room (waiting for the nurse to give me the clearance to go in and visit him).

When I arrived in the room, I was amazed to find Jeff alert and responsive. We had a lengthy conversation. I was able to share the gospel with him and pray for him.

In the beginning of our conversation I said, "Jeff, God kept you alive for a reason."

He said, "Well if he did I don't know what that reason would be."

I said, "Jeff, if you had died when they first brought you into the hospital, would you have been ready to meet God?"

He said (most emphatically), "No!"

I said, "Well, I think that might be your reason right there."

I left Jeff with some literature about the gospel, and he invited me to stop back and visit next week. I pray God grants him the gift of repentance.

This time, I left the hospital overwhelmed by the mercy and kindness of a great God who hears our prayers.  

MISSION OTTAWA 2011

Last year at some point, the Lord put it on the heart of one street evangelist Vernon Costolo, of West Virginia, who is now of Georgia (a brother in Christ whom we only knew through our blogs and e-mail correspondence) to go somewhere outside his home comfort zone and preach the gospel for about a period of a week.

 A bit of a "mission", if you will. Long story short, he called up his friend, Sean Borca, of Florida, and they showed up at our front door last October.

But not before spending a couple of days with Bill and Jenny Baker in Toronto where they got warmed up to preach the gospel on the streets with them before arriving here in Ottawa. Vernon and Jenny knew each other from a recent Ambassadors Academy session in Southern California.

With four days slated to be in Ottawa, Vernon and Sean teamed up with Kim, myself, along with our pastor, Bob Doble and his wife, Marie-Josee. We met, we talked, we ate, we prayed, we planned, we geared up and out the door we went.

The video is just a summary of all that we did for four days on the streets of Ottawa and Gatineau, minus all the great fellowship we had.



We are doing it again this year and are opening up the doors to any who would like to join us, be it for a few hours or a few days. We are looking at beginning on Sept 3 (Labour Day weekend) to Wednesday, Sept 7.

Like last year, as most of our outings, we'll be busy handing out tracts, handing out Bibles, initiating gospel conversations, open air preaching, etc. If you are new to street evangelism, then this is a good time to get involved and maybe hand out gospel tracts to people. As you can see in the video, it is not that hard a task and yet a most important and effective part of street evangelism.

If you are not able to make it, we would most certainly welcome your prayer support. And if you feel led to do so and are able, financial support would be welcome, as well,  to help offset the cost of the thousands of gospel tracts we will be purchasing to hand out. We are already equipped with a few boxes of Bibles.

Ottawa is no different than any other city in any other country. The people here need to hear and receive the gospel. Not the extra-biblical ones or the candy-coated ones that are preached in the majority of churches everywhere, but the TRUE gospel, straight out of the Word of God.

Mission Ottawa 2011 will be a great opportunity to share in the task of building the kingdom for the Lord. A great opportunity to spread the saving gospel of Jesus with others in the capital city of Canada. A great opportunity to lift up and proclaim, in the public square, the Name that is above all names. A great opportunity to bring the living word to a dying world and give God glory in the process.

Please let us know by August 17 if you would like to join us on this gospel giving venture in Ottawa. Our e-mail address is thewordstreetjournal@gmail.com. Thank you, in advance, for your support.

Until the nets are full,

Paul & Kim

THE LIFE OF A GOSPEL TRACT

There are those, some non-Christians and some professing Christians alike, who believe that the distribution of gospel tracts is an exercise in futility and a discarded tract is proof of their argument.

But I have read many accounts of born again Christians testifying to the fact that God came to them in saving power and might, convicting them in the reading of such simple literature. Some of them found a tract in a trash bin or crumpled up on a sidewalk somewhere and they have not been the same since. How so? God's own word printed in them.



Never underestimate the power and sovereignty of God and what He can do in the regeneration of a dead spiritual heart by the reading of such seemingly worthless material by one who receives or finds a gospel tract. Gospel tracts are a form of planting seeds and/or watering what seeds have already been sewn in a sinner's heart.

Our task is to obey the Lord and spread the gospel. Gospel tracts are one of the many and most simple and effective ways of doing so. You deliver and God takes care of the rest. You deliver and trust God with the results, no matter how well or not they have been received.

"...so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and will achieve the purpose for which I sent it." - Isaiah 55:11

CANADA DAY GOSPEL OUTREACH 2011

A few of us went to hand out a few gospel tracts and open air preach a few times to a few people for a few hours in downtown Ottawa on Canada Day. 



The Lord was kind to bless our team with good work with the Good News on a fabulously good day. God be praised, as always.

CANADA DAY GONETH

Guess what 34,700 of these people received in their hands on Canada Day, July 1st. The first person to send in the right answer wins a million bucks!

When time allows me to get some editing work done, I'll post a video of our Canada Day gospel outreach project which saw a team of 26 hard working harbingers doing whatever they could to spread the Good News to as many people as possible in a span of 6 hours while Canadians by the tens of thousands were celebrating Canada's 144th birthday in Ottawa's downtown core.