TONY MIANO, STREET PREACHER

Crown Rights, a Christ centred, gospel saturated video production company run by Marcus Pittman of Georgia, USA, has produced their latest work in a series which profiles godly street preachers. 

This profile is of one whom I consider to be one of the most prolific and God-honoring street evangelists today, Tony Miano of Santa Clarita, California. The Lord has used him mightily over the years to educate, encourage, edify and inspire street evangelists all over the US, Canada and beyond.



Tony is no stranger to any street evangelist as he is, among other responsibilities, co-host of the internet  show called "On The Box" with Ray Comfort of Living Waters. He has been a friend to me and mentor (among a small handful of others) for the last 5 years since I started open air preaching.

In this 4 minute segment, Tony focuses on the importance and necessity of street preachers being grounded in and sent from a local church. He stresses that they are to be under the prayerful support, guidance and authority of church elders and pastors. The importance of street preachers preaching both law AND grace in their discourse and that "the name that is above all names", Jesus Christ, be highly exalted at every street preaching opportunity is also encouraged.

USING GOSPEL TRACTS

Fresh on the heels of seeing firsthand the power of God working to capture the heart of a man desperate for the truth through a gospel tract handed to him by a member of our evangelism team present at the Dalai Lama public speaking event here in Ottawa a month ago as thousands were entering, here is a good presentation of the "good work" behind the act of giving a tract.



Nothing could be easier than showing your concern for a lost person's soul than by handing out a good gospel tract. The tract presents the gospel to the receiver for you. All you have to do is make sure it gets in the hands of people.

And if you are right now too shy for that, there are a great number of ways in which you could leave a tract in strategic places where people can find them. God takes care of the rest. We are assured in Scripture that His word will never return to Him void. So then, even in doing this, you have done "the work of an evangelist", a seed spreader, a seed waterer. And God is always glorified.

"A touching gospel tract may be the seed of eternal life." - Charles Spurgeon

'180' OUTREACH - MARCH FOR LIFE

March For Life (an annual Pro-Life rally which Kim and I usually attend so as to bring the gospel to the mostly Roman Catholic participants) crept up on us by surprise this year. 

With a couple of days notice and just a one hour window of time to do something in between my morning and afternoon shifts at work last Thursday, I thought the best thing to do was to take advantage of this noble and important cause to promote Ray Comfort's "180 Movie" by handing out promo cards that point to the 180 website and documentary.

With kind permission from Living Waters, I re-edited their "180 Card" that they sell to better suit the recipients at the rally as they, obviously, were knowingly Pro-Life to begin with. I did a little bit of photoshop work and took the file to our local print shop to get made.



Unfortunately, Kim was not able to participate in this outreach due to her work schedule but three eager volunteers from our church's evangelism team were not hard to find. Joining me was our pastor, Bob Doble, his wife, Marie-Josee and tract dispenser extraordinaire, Nicole.

The 180 documentary serves as a powerful and informative resource even for those in the Pro-Life camp. And we know, that just because one may be religious and/or Pro-Life does not necessarily mean that the person is saved. In this video, a clear and concise presentation of the saving gospel of Jesus is included, as well.

The refusals we had experienced was of the good kind as it turned out that there were many there who had already seen the 180 movie and affirmed how great it was to see.

It was a joy to hand out over 1000 promo cards in the short time we had to participants of the rally. I only wish we could have had more time to hand out more. Much, much more. Maybe next year.

Glory to God for this wonderful and powerful video documentary! It has already saved the lives of babies whose mothers were contemplating abortion until they saw it and it has changed the minds of thousands from Pro-Choice to Pro-Life.

If you have not already, make sure you go to "180movie.com" and see for yourself what all the commotion is about. Then go spread the word about it to others!

GOD - 1 / DALAI LAMA - 0

As you read in my last post, a small band of dedicated tractors (a term I use for those who hand out gospel tracts) from Emmanuel Baptist Church descended upon the Civic Centre in downtown Ottawa and handed out gospel tracts to over 1000 attendees of a public speech given by the visiting Dalai Lama.

Among devout practicing Buddhist devotees of the Dalai Lama were also non-Buddhist folk of all stripes seeking spiritual truth. One such person was a fellow by the name of Chris. He drove a one hour's drive to Ottawa hoping to hear a message from "His Holiness the Dalai Lama" that would give him a sense of hope, a sense of peace, a sense of being right with God. He sat through what the Dalai Lama had to offer and, as it turned out, drove home disappointed and discouraged.

But it didn't end there. There was something in Chris' pocket calling his attention. It was a gospel tract that he accepted on his way into the conference from one of our 5 member team.

He read the tract and was immediately convicted. So much so, Chris phoned the contact number on the back of the tract which eventually led to our pastor's phone number being given to Chris. He called Pastor Bob Doble and poured his heart out to him on the phone. Pastor Bob kindly offered to meet with him which he did yesterday at Chris' home.

The following is Pastor Bob's account of what took place written to the members of our congregation who, knowing they were going to meet, were all praying for Chris:

Acts 16:14 says of Lydia that "the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul". I had the great joy to see God do this sovereign work again today with Chris. 

Rarely have I experienced one so evidently prepared by the Spirit to receive Christ. I spent 2 1/2 hours today in his home, hearing his story and giving him the Gospel. His girlfriend also popped in and out and I'm thankful she heard the Gospel part but whereas she clearly didn't "get" it, Chris did. 

He is intelligent, well-educated, and formerly successful in the eyes of the world  (a six-figure salary, big house, plans to retire in the Grand Cayman Islands, etc.) but through an ugly divorce he lost pretty much everything, ended up living on the street in Toronto and in a mental institution including a series of shock treatments, tried to slit his wrists with a coke can and so on. He's been at the top and he's been at the bottom. 

But now he's saved! 

The tract he received at the Dalai Lama event spoke powerfully to his heart, I believe it was entitled "Are you ready to meet God", especially about the final judgment and the lake of fire. He had not one objection to the Gospel, understood receiving Christ was not just a fire-escape but a life commitment, and in my presence trusted Christ to save him! 

I gave him a Bible which he wanted me to write something in, he wanted his girlfriend to take a picture of him and me, me holding my Bible and Chris holding his, and I also gave him John MacArthur's little book "Why One Way". Some day Chris will be in church to tell you in his own words what God has done for him. 

I write this with tears of joy and much praise to God. The Gospel is still the power of God unto salvation and just a simple act like handing out a tract can be the very instrument God uses to pluck another perishing soul from hell.

Thanks to all who pray and labour in the Gospel.
 

Bob

There were 7000 people in attendance at the Civic Centre that day and only one went home with the truth with no thanks to the Dalai Lama.

But because a few soldiers of Christ gave up their Saturday morning to hand out gospel tracts to those attending this event, a man is now at true peace with God. By God's will and grace, Chris has been freely granted the gifts of repentance and faith in Christ. He now knows for sure that his sins have been forgiven, paid for, wiped out and thrown "as far as the east is from the west", never to be brought against him again, even on Judgment Day.

Chris' name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. He will die and rise again to stand before His Judge wearing a robe of righteousness purchased for Him by the shed blood of Christ who died for his sins on the cross.

Chris now has the assurance of spending his eternity in Heaven. In the meantime, he will be discipled and, out of a deep sense of gratitude, has already expressed a desire to be an active vessel for Christ in bringing the same Good News that led to his salvation to the homeless of Ottawa. Something he has tasted while on his way to Calvary's cross.

And all it took was one gospel tract.