Witnessing at MSU Downtown Springfield and Pridefest 2015

Jeremy holding signs and talking to a crowd with a heckler standing next to him.

Ministry Update

An open-air preacher friend of mine (Brad) suggested that I start giving updates of our witnessing outreaches. He said that other people have told him that the updates encourage them the share their faith in Jesus Christ. So after praying about this, I’m going to try to give updates after my friends and I have been out witnessing. So please let me know if you believe any updates are trying to put the spotlight on my friends or myself. The purpose of the updates are twofold: 1. Bring honor and glory to God 2. Encourage other Christians to share their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

This last week I share the Gospel at Missouri State University on Wednesday during the lunch hour. There were several students that walked by and there is construction going on near the free speech zone, so a handful of construction workers heard the Gospel as well as the students. One young lady came up and wrote in chalk right in front of me: Stay away from my beliefs. She was very hard hearted and I had to tell her that if her beliefs didn’t include Jesus Christ, that she was lost and on the road to Hell. She did draw a crowd while she was there. May God break hard hearts and save souls.

On Friday night I joined Aaron, Rich, Kelly, his son, Erica, Diana and Elise downtown. Before we got started, Rich and I helped Aaron get some things from his truck. Two teenagers walked by and I handed them both tracts. They were looking at them and I told them it had the million dollar question on the back: Are you good enough to go to heaven? Devon said that he hoped that he was good enough. I asked him how good do you have to be to get there? When do you know when you’ve reached the point where you say yeah, this is it, I’m good enough? He couldn’t answer the questions. His friend walked on ahead, but Devon stayed and listened to the Gospel. Aaron had a tract with his church’s information on it and he invited Devon to come to church.

Then Aaron got into a conversation with Ricky while we were still setting up. We had several other conversations that night. Kelly had several good ones including one where he talked to Zane and Alaina. They listened to the street preaching and Kelly shared God’s truth with them. He encouraged them to read the book of John.  Cody and Aleshia are a homeless couple who came up and listened to the preaching. We gave them some resources and I think Aaron even directed them on where they could stay temporarily.

Toward the end of the night four ladies came up and told Aaron that he was presenting the Gospel wrong. He asked the most vocal one if she was saved and she said that she had read the Bible once. She walked away and Kelly and I tried to talk to her. She kept telling us the Bible isn’t God. We kept saying that the Bible is God’s Holy Word. She said anything could be a god. Kelly looked at a small tree beside us and said could that tree be a god and she said it was more of a god than what we were presenting. We called her to repent and trust Christ as she walked away.

Then on Saturday Rich, Roy, Diana, Jeremy, his brother and I witnessed at Pridefest which started out as a parade through downtown Springfield. We walked alongside the participants and exhorted them to trust Christ. When we came to the square, Rich and I were on separate corners and we received tickets from a policeman right off the bat. I’ve witnessed at this event around five times and this is the first time that we’ve received tickets for not having a use permit on the square. The young man in red holding the pride flag pictured above heckled me the whole time I was preaching. He kept standing in front of me and kept trying to interrupt me.

Anyway, the crowd was prideful and didn’t want to hear God’s truth. But we proclaimed it anyway and I think all of us were able to have good conversations. Toward the end I talked to a teenager named Michael who said that he is gay. He wanted to know if God would have made him gay so he could witness to the gay community. I told him that we are all born with a sinful nature and we chose our sin of choice, God doesn’t make us that way. Right after that Rich, Roy and I had to leave, but Jeremy and his brother stayed and then Aaron, Matt, Diana and Elise witnessed that afternoon up to late at night. I didn’t hear about their encounters, but I’m sure they had some. (I did see a picture of Elise witnessing that was posted on social media).

We hope and pray that God will bring the increase to the seeds that were planted. We pray that God will rescue the perishing and that He will continue to seek and to save that which is lost. All for His honor and glory and we also pray that you will share your faith in Christ with this lost and dying world.