HERE AND THERE

We here at The Word Street Journal don't document every street evangelism outing we venture out on and not every one we do document sees the light of day on our blog.

The video on today's post are just some previously unseen video clips and photos from a few of last year's outings that I swept up from the editing floor and decided to compile them into a short presentation to 1) further encourage our readers and 2) just to reminisce about and look forward to warmer working temperatures than what we are experiencing at the present time.  :)



It can be argued by some that our stories, photos and videos basically read and look all the same: people handing out gospel tracts, people talking to people, someone holding a cross, someone open air preaching, 'yada-yada'. But it must be remembered that these stories and videos are mainly geared toward a certain group of people. They are called 'Christians'.

They are especially made to encourage, edify and educate fellow believers who may sense in their heart a calling to obey the Lord's command to "GO" as found in Matthew 28, but are not sure what it's like out there or what to do; to join the ranks of those, with God's help, who are willing to step out of their comfort zones (at risk of being labelled a "fool for Christ") and boldly bring God's message of salvation to people in the streets of the cities, towns and villages where they live and, in doing so, give glory to God by exalting His name in the public square.

These are made to show fellow Christians that we, along with those who join us, are everyday people reaching out to everyday people. We are not theological scholars, champion orators, gifted communicators or extraordinary extroverts. Just everyday people who have come to faith in Christ for their salvation and find it hard to keep what God has done for them to themselves knowing that it's a matter of spiritual life and death for others as it was for them. It's known as "compassion for the lost".

And, for those who are already on the streets sharing their faith with others on a regular basis, these little productions, we hope, are be a source of inspiration and encouragement to not only press on in the task of building the kingdom of God, but maybe learn some things in the realm of street evangelism as we have been blessed to view how others do their work and make their experience our experience in an "iron sharpens iron", sort of way. We never want to stop learning.

Kim and I are deeply grateful to the Lord to see that, within the last two years, He has heard the prayers of many and has graciously blessed our city with more fellow gospel labourers, mainly from our own church.

As Emmanuel Baptist Church continues to strive and thrive we will continue to "do the work of an evangelist" as a team continuing to be prayerfully humble, forthright and strong in bringing, through a variety of ways, the saving gospel of Jesus Christ to the mission field we know as "Ottawa", to the glory of the Lord, our God and great Redeemer.

WINTERLUDE 2012

The temperature was bone chilling cold but the message we had to share was far too important for 11 of us to stay in the warm comfort of our homes and keep it to ourselves.

So on with the layers of clothes, big coats, mitts, gloves, scarves, toques, boots, and thermoses of hot drinks, armed with a ton of gospel tracts and on to Ottawa's annual Winterlude Festival where thousands gather to celebrate all that winter fun provides.

Thankfully, the sun was blazing in the big blue sky with its rays giving us an extra blanket of warmth in the cold air as we did our work.

On their way into the festival grounds, at three separate entrances, winterluders were greeted by members of our church evangelism team and were handed gospel tracts for them to pocket, read and hopefully contemplate.

Some stopped in their tracks with their tracts asking what they were about out of which some conversations were started. Hundreds of tracts were handed out.

Pastor Bob and I each held our AYR crosses for a considerable amount of time causing a few to stop and ask the obvious question leading into gospel conversations.

I got myself miked up and with cross in hand I open aired for the better part of a half hour as people passed. I took notice of a few people close by to the left and right of me who stopped and to pay attention to the gospel message being preached for the length of time I spoke. Following that, I approached these people in time to give them each a gospel tract before leaving.

The first time our church went out as a team to bring the Good News to the streets of Ottawa was last year at Winterlude 2011. We have been out many times since and this year's Winterlude event is just the beginning of another very busy year of street evangelism for the intrepid team at, what we are now known as, Emmanuel Baptist Church in Ottawa.

We shall be the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, calling out his sheep from among the goats, that they may be brought into the fold and be graciously granted repentance, forgiveness, faith and eternal life in Heaven, to the glory of God. 

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give the eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." - John 10:27-28

MATTHEW 9:38

A little photoshop. A little encouragement.

I had this visual inspired from Matthew 9:38 stored in my head for the longest time. I had to get it out. There's not much storage space left up there these days. :)

It's encouraging to note that Christians must be praying as God seems to be adding more workers to his "harvest field". From what I see on other blogs, Facebook, YouTube, etc., it seems that more and more Christians are taking action for the sake of the gospel by proclaiming it, sharing it, preaching it, handing out gospel tracts, doing whatever it takes to get the gospel out into the hearts and minds of everyday people, most whom would never darken the door of a church - which is a good thing because most churches have steered away from or never have been preaching the true gospel.

We can never have enough gospel harbingers so please keep on praying. "The harvest is plentiful" and such should be the workers.

A PRICE TO PAY TO PREACH

In some countries today, if one was to stand in the public square to open air preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, they would be beaten, arrested, jailed, tortured and in some cases, put to death. Nothing new. They did that in the days of the first century church starting with the likes of Stephen, Paul, Peter, etc. The hatred for the gospel and the public proclamation of it is as prevalent today as it was back then.

Here in North America, for the most part, we enjoy certain freedoms that limit the kind of persecution street preachers receive to verbal cursing, mockery, middle finger salutes and various forms of noisy disruptions. Sometimes police intervene and work against, not for, the preacher even to the point of arrests. 

But it's not too often an open air preacher will get stuff thrown at him. The only time I had something thrown at me was at the annual Gay Pride Parade a few years back when somebody, who did not like the Good News he was hearing, hurled his cup of coffee at me. It missed me but landed and splashed all over my knapsack sitting my feet. I continued to preach.

Last week, over 100 street evangelists from coast to coast USA descended upon the Super Bowl festivities in Indianapolis to bring the gospel to the thousands who were there to partake in the festivities.

On one occasion, veteran street preacher, Tony Miano, was "on the box". He was protected by a human wall of fellow team mates who would hold alcohol laced hecklers at bay from physically reaching Tony. As the video below shows, despite the protection, someone was able to take a tightly wrapped burrito and utilize it as a projectile missile, clocking Tony hard on the left side of his face. He continued to preach. 

Insults and violence may bring temporary humiliation and pain upon the open air preacher but, at the same time, it brings eternal glory to God. For His word, as He says in Isaiah 55:11, "...will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

18th century open air preacher extraordinaire, Jonathan Whitefield, didn't have it easy on many occasions but counted it all joy nonetheless. "‎There I was honored with having stones, dirt, rotten eggs, and pieces of dead cats thrown at me."

Jesus said: "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." - Matthew 5:11-12  

IT BEGINS

Last Saturday, January 28, 2012, marked the first opportunity in this new calendar year that a small team of us from our new church, Emmanuel Baptist Church, hit the street with the gospel. 


By God's grace and will, we fully intend to be a visible church with the gospel being heard, given and seen on street corners, civic events and special occasions throughout the city of Ottawa, throughout the year and beyond.


As per usual, our church's methods of glorifying God in the active role of fulfilling the Great Commission will consist of holding the "Are You Ready" cross...

...handing out gospel tracts...

...street light preaching...

...public reading of Scripture...

...sharing the gospel one-to-one...

...and open air preaching.

It is our belief that the command Jesus gave to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation" (Mark 16:15) was directed to, yes, His apostles at the time, but also to all who have been called by God, in this day, to be saved by His grace through faith in Christ for their eternal benefit and joy. We were not called to keep the saving gospel to ourselves.

Sending missionaries to far off lands to bring the gospel to unreached peoples of the world is of utmost importance, a duty that must be actively and joyfully supported. But not at the cost of ignoring the same need to the same kind of people here in our own backyard.

In this city of just under one million people, there are a only a small handful of believers actively bringing the gospel to the public square outside their churches on a regular basis. VERY SMALL!

Emmanuel Baptist Church, from the pastor on down, is praying that the Lord would  grant us all that we need in order to effectively reach as many lost souls as we can; that those whom Christ died for would wake up to the reality of their eternal destiny by God's amazing grace through the hearing and receiving of His glorious, scandalous gospel and that the name of Christ would be exalted in the process for His and His glory alone.

We would also like to be a good example and of encouragement to other God-honouring, Bible believing churches in our area, of which there is a shortage of these, as well. We would welcome and be willing to serve alongside any who profess Christ and would like to join us in our street evangelism ventures over the course of the year.

We cannot begin to describe what joy there is in serving the Lord in this most unpopular but very necessary means of spreading the gospel. It is such a privilege, as well. It's the very least we can do to demonstrate our appreciation to our Lord Jesus in sacrificing His life for us wretched sinners that we may be completely be forgiven, brought into a right relationship with God and saved from His eternal and just wrath.

How can we who have come to saving faith in Christ NOT tell others how they can be forgiven of their sins by the grace of God and receive the free gift of eternal life through Christ for themselves? Not sharing with others the good news of God's loving provision, through Christ, of escape from eternal hell is akin to discovering a cure for cancer and neglecting to give it to those who would need it in order to live.

The world has cancer. It's unknowingly called "sin". Sin kills. There is a cure. At the very least, out of compassion for this dying world, the cure must be offered to the world by those who are in possession of it.

May God be glorified in the public giving and preaching of His word, the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the lost on the streets of this city. The local gospel labourers under the banner of biblical Christianity are looking forward to a banner year.

Emmanuel: God with us. 

"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes" - Romans 1:16