Wildest Witnessing Yet!December 11-12, 2004This past adventure out on the streets has been the wildest I have ever had. Let me say this, I left Garden Valley with a team to witness in Dallas. At the time I had a car and a sound box. When I returned home I had no car, no sound box, and another $330 citation in my pocket. Let me tell you the full story.Roughly 15 or so of us all met together at 9pm and headed to Deep Ellum in Dallas for street ministry. We arrived in Deep Ellum around 11:30 and found a paid parking lot. We decided to simply take some tracts, gospels of John, a one step stool to preach on, a sound box to help our voices, and our bibles. After spending some more time in prayer, we went outside a very popular, busy club to preach. Some went to do some prayer walking, while myself and others stayed there to preach open-air. I started and preached the Law and grace for everyone standing in the line to get into the club. A crowd also gathered right in front of me to listen as well. Eventually the cops came and tried to give me a hard time. They said if I attract a crowd again then they will arrest me and bring me to jail. I told them that I will simply preach for everyone in the line and if a crowd blocks the sidewalk I will ask them to leave. So I stood up and preached again for the line, and maybe one minute later a cop came and said "Ok, now your getting the citation." What is messed up is that there was no crowd (besides the line for the club) and the sidewalk was still clear! They gave me a raw deal. However this is simply apart of the life God has chosen for me and I willingly accept it. Then, they took my sound box away and said I can pick it up at the station.This has been happening every time I go out, in every location I go to! When I am in Connecticut it happens, when i am In Texas it happens. During the day, during the night. When I am alone, when I am with others. When I attract a crowd, when I attract no crowd. When I have a sound box, when I have no sound box. It doesn't seem to matter. I can't think of a time I have gone out to preach in the past 8 months that did not involve the police some how. Why!! I talk to other christians who do street ministry and they don't have these problems, at least not every time they go out and witness. Is the Lord testing my faithfulness? Well, I can't stop preaching. That is simply not an option. Hopefully this season of hardship and suffering will pass soon, but it may only be beginning. Either way, may the Lord be magnified.After preaching to the line waiting to get into the club, with no amp, I decided to give away the tracts and the gospels. In almost no time at all I had given away maybe 150 tracts and 50 or so gospels of John. Some of which ended up on the crowd, most of which ended up in the pockets of those who will wake up sober and then be clear headed enough to read it.I was some what frustrated with some of the Christians that came out with me because it seemed I was the only one actually witnessing. ( Yes I know they are probably reading this right now, but that may be good. I do love you all dearly). They were either praying or having conversations with each other. I am not against praying, but that is something that should have gotten done before we went out. We were out to "preach the gospel to every creature" and it seemed I was the only one doing that. Prayer should be done in our secret closets. Prayer is private while preaching is public. I talked to one of them, a friend I love dearly, and asked him why he even came out there. He said that he will preach when it turns 2am, when all the clubs close and the streets get flooded.This is where it got even crazier. I decided to take a walk and see if I could find a place to preach open-air that didn't have so much music blasting. There was this one spot that also gave me plenty of room to walk around. Being very animated helps get the attention of the crowd so I had plenty of room to do that. I preached against sin and against sinners. Using biblical vocabulary, I preached the truth hot and heavy. I certainly had the attention of the people and drew a nice crowd. There were some hecklers and some sincere listeners. One man tried to snatch my bible out of my hand so we got into a tug of war over it. Then a "STAFF" person from the club/bar thing jumped in and pulled the man away! He was awesome! I thank God for that man. We did get allot of this open-air on film and will try to make it available at my website ASAP.My friend preached when it became 2am, then I preached again. It was a time of anointing preaching. We did nothing but preach and yet the people stopped there on the sidewalk and listened and asked questions. It was definitely blessed of the Lord and I am confident we were in the will of God dispite the police harassment and even the swearing and cursing of the sinners against us. Those things must be expected, but never feared. Then, when we went back to find my car in the parking lot, which we paid to park in, all we found was shattered glass on the pavement. NO CAR! My car had been broken into and stolen. It had a scriptural bumper sticker on it saying "Nay, I tell you the truth, unless you repent you will all likewise perish." It is possible that that is why my car was stolen. Maybe, maybe not.So in this one night, my sound box was taken, I received another citation which means another court case, someone tried to steal my bible, and my car was stolen completely. I suppose the devil realized that he would have to take away my transportation because I will not stop going out and preaching, despite any persecution. He must have figured that is what it would have to take. I made some phone calls and found a ride back home for us all so it did work out.All together this night cost me roughly $3,000! But you know what? PRAISE GOD! My treasure is not on earth. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. These things are all fading away anyways! It is my privilege to be apart of The Fellowship of His Sufferings. This ministry is always a blessing and should never be a burden. The best part of it all, is that the people heard the gospel. There were those who sincerely thanked me for preaching and those who were strongly considering everything that was preached. I am confident in God and stand in expectation of what He is going to do in their lives. I hope all of you will stand in expectation as well. Please continue to pray for this ministry. The opposition and hardships seem to be increasing. The Lords will be done. Whatever it takes, these people must hear the gospel. We must be unmovable and unshakeable. These people need Jesus, and if we as Christians don't preach the truth, who will? I pray you all be encouraged at what God is doing and will go out and witness for yourselves. Thanks for your love and support. God is good
