I know I talk about street preaching alot, but thats only because I don't believe the church talks enough about it. This is really on my heart so I want to share.A friend of mine, Jason Thaxton: https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=684 , was talking to some "Christians" about open-air preaching on their college campus because I was kicked off their campus just a few days ago. One of them said "The days of the soap-box preacher are over". This is not a very uncommon belief in the church today. I wrote my thoughts against this lie in an artical "Modern Modernizing" https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=5095Heres a bit of what I said."MethodsAlong with worship music changing, ministry methods have been changing as well. There a great deal of people in our day that reject certain methods of ministry and do so out of ignorance because they have never tried them. Its one thing to say “I don’t think that works” and another to say “I know that doesn’t work”. Some of the most greatly neglected methods of ministry would be tracts and open air preaching. I have heard people say “Well God may have used tracts and street preaching in history, but he doesn’t use them now. This is a new day which calls for new methods.” Some of you may believe the very same thing. This is putting God in a box. Let’s ask ourselves just a few questions.1) Is it possible that the reason it worked then and not now is because we don’t use them now? We say “God doesn’t use street preachers anymore” but maybe it is because there really aren’t many street preachers to be used anymore. I assure you that there are a few and God uses them, but He can’t use those who are not willing to be used.2) Why would God suddenly abandon street preaching and tracts? Is our generation the only generation that can’t see God move using these things? God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If God did something in history, he can do the same thing in the present. Would anyone say “God used to speak to His church through the bible, but not in this new era, God doesn’t use the bible anymore”? Of coarse no reasonable and logical Christian would dare say such a thing. Street preaching is found in scripture and the written word is so powerful that God himself wrote His own book. Why limit God by saying He can’t move through these things anymore? This is very dangerous because millions of souls that could have been won will not be won due to this one lie.3) Could saying that God doesn’t use these things anymore truly be a cop out? Maybe you are so ashamed of Christ that you can’t imagine giving out tracts in public and therefore you say God doesn’t use these things. We’ll if God doesn’t use these things then certainly, neither should we. But in reality He does use them and therefore so should we. I fear that many reject the method because they are ashamed of the message. If you attended the meeting we had on Hudson Taylor you may have noticed that he was saved by a gospel tract. If it wasn’t for gospel tracts, who knows what would have became of this great man. Think of all the souls that were won in his own day because of the mission society that he founded. Think of the souls that are still being reached because of this one man who is the founder of modern missions. What would have happened if his generation accepted the lie that “God doesn’t use tracts”. Great Revivals have come due to street preaching in particular. The revivals of Wesley and Whitefield would never have happened if they did not preach in the streets. Charles Spurgeon said "It would be very easy to prove that revivals of religion have usually been accompanied, if not caused, by a considerable amount of preaching out of doors, or in unusual places." We say we want revival, but we don’t want to have to do the things that bring about revival. We want the end but not the means. Is it possible that they saw revival in their day and we do not see it in our day because we don’t minister the same way they did? What potential is lost! We are trying to pave our own roads when the old roads lead the way perfectly. We go the wrong direction and then we wonder why we aren’t there yet. Entire towns get in an uproar when a hell-fire, soap-box, street-corner preacher comes to down. He is criticized by the world of coarse, but even by the church many times. He’s labeled a fanatic, a legalist, a bible thumper, and all the other names people will give to smear his name. If a man like John the Baptist or John Wesley preached in our day they would receive no greater welcome but rather receive an even worse rejection. They would be opposed by the church, the world, and even hell itself but God is for them! Oh boy we want revival so that our friends and families will be saved but we don’t want any revival preachers so that our hearts can stay dead. We would kick these men out of our churches just like we kick conviction right out of our hearts even though both are sent from God. God should tell us how to move. We shouldn’t tell God how to move. His holy Word tells us how to fulfill the Great Commission. We are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who preached “the sermon on the mount” in an open-air meeting. God knows the day and age in which we live, we don’t have to tell Him. We tell God what this generation needs when He wants to tell us what it needs. The biblical method of outreach has always been frontline evangelism. Going out to the frontlines of the battlefield to where the sinners are and telling them as Jesus did “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Brethren, we need to get back to the bible. We need to dare to be biblical. The biblical church is a dangerous church. A biblical church does not tolerate sin in itself or in the world because God calls “all men everywhere to repent”. The biblical church is not shaped by whatever new culture arises. A biblical church is solid and can not be molded by any hand except the hand of God. The biblical church does not make up their own methods, but sticks to the guidelines of the battle plan. The battle plans are always prepared before the battle. Our Commander, Christ, has does not expect or want us to make it up as we go along. Although the times may change, his Word remains the same. The tactics of the enemy may change, but our defenses and our artillery are still strong in pulling down strong holds."
