The Lord has provided two more ways of spreading the seeds of His gospel - especially during the cold weather when people are not out and available here. After a lot of crying out to Him about what to do, He answered.
I used the first strategy last night with another member of Calvary Chapel's evangelism team. We went to a large, busy mall because that's where a lot of people were. My partner and I simply sat at a table in the food court close to other people. Then, I loudly (some might say annoyingly loudly) told my friend about God's law, the gospel, his need to repent and trust Jesus Christ for eternal life, etc. He simply acted the part of a friend who needs to hear the gospel. A couple of times, we switched roles. Our hope is that the other people around were eavesdropping. Speaking loudly does not come naturally to me, but if I look at it as putting on a drama for the unwitting audience, the loud voice comes out.
We performed this impromptu drama about 4 or 5 times in various locations around the mall and then again in the cafe area of a huge grocery store. A few people seemed to be listening. Our hope is simply that seeds were planted in good soil through this alternative type of open-air preaching.
The second strategy is one I found on a website run by Pastor Steve Sanchez. You can find his web site here. Any believer can do this variation of the first strategy. All you need is a cell phone and it doesn't even have to be on. Just put the phone to your ear and speak to whatever imaginary person you may be talking to about righteousness, God's justice, Jesus' atoning sacrifice on the cross, His resurrection, our need to be born again... Just speak loudly so people around you can hear the most important information in the world.
These two variations on open-air preaching have opened up some opportunities for me here. Now, it's much easier to share the gospel in stores, airports, and other private property where distribution of gospel tracts and real open air preaching will get a person kicked out. Next time, I hope to bring an update about how these strategies are working. God bless you!
Wow!!!!!!!!! That is REALLY neat Kevin! I love the cell phone idea... Thanks so much for sharing - what encouragement!!!! God bless you!
Posted by: Brandy Cook | January 23, 2011 at 03:27 PM