Kerusso, according to Strong's concordance, is Greek for "(1) to be a herald or to officiate as a herald, to proclaim after the manner of a herald always with the suggestion of formality, gravity and an authority which must be listened to and obeyed." When we translate to English, we get the word preach as in "Go into all the world and preach the gospel..." in Mark 16:15 and "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season...." in 2 Timothy 4:2. That's what we did last night in the Old Town bar and party area of Wichita.
The evangelism group from Calvary Chapel has distributed thousands of the best tracts we can find and spoken one-to-one with people in Old Town for a looonnng time. We continue to do so, but are concentrating more on open-air preaching to reach more people. According to Romans 10:17, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Since no one can hear a tract, and we're limited in how many we can reach on a one-to-one basis, we are giving people the Word of God verbally.
Last night, we loudly, publicly proclaimed the message of the King of kings to all who would hear. This was a bit of a warm-up for next weekend when we celebrate Reformation Day (the world calls it halloween). My plan is to take turns with one or more other members of our group to open air preach God's law and gospel next Saturday night. I'm making my plans and trusting the Lord to order my steps in accordance with His will so that people will repent and obey the gospel.
So, you may be wondering what sort of response do we get while open air preaching the gospel in Old Town. The police have never disrupted us. Most people simply walk on by. The call of overpriced alcohol, smoke, and bad music in the bars is just too strong for them. A few make little negative comments, but, so far, no one has gotten out-of-control angry. They all hear the gospel regardless of their response. Nearly every evening we open air preach, someone comes by with an encouraging comment and thanks us for preaching the gospel. This happened to me personally three times just last night and it outweighs many snide comments.
The bottom line on open air preaching is this... it is obedience to God's word to loudly, publicly proclaim His message of salvation and He will bless the effort and protect us as we do it. If you'd like to give open airing a try, just jump up on a footstool (elevation is important!) and loudly read John 3:16 to people. Your knees will probably knock together, but It will be over before you know it and you won't regret it! God bless you!
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