Bezeugen BLOG

On Saturday night following the Psalm 119 conference will be The Five Hundred in DFW. If you are not already registered, please sign up online.

We will meet at 6:45PM at Market and Corbin (point C) on the map below. From 6:45-7PM we will pray and organize. Then you will be free to witness, pass out tracts, open air preach, etc until 9PM. At 9PM we will meet back at Market and Corbin for prayer and wrap up. Those that want to stay beyond 9PM are welcome to stay longer.

The venues for the West End are as follows:

• Dealey Plaza (site A on the map)
• DART train station (Pacific between Lamar and Market)
• Corner of Ross and Market (point B)
• Corner of Market and Corbin (point C)
• American Airlines Center will host Nickleback in concert. A good place to preach there is at the SW corner of Houston and Olive (point D). This is about half a mile walk from the West End.

The following map shows the logistics.

View Larger Map

Parking
There is a parking lot at Market and Corbin. I believe it is $4. To save a little money, there is a lot at the NW corner of Ross and North Houston where you can park for $2.50. At this parking lot you put exact change into a box. Bring singles and quarters. There is some free parking in the area at meters which mostly are not in effect after 6PM. Check the meter when you park there if you choose that option.

Dealey Plaza
We should be able to use amplification at Dealey Plaza. There is a small stage like area by the grassy knoll which is about 50 yards from the big X in the street showing where JFK was assassinated. There are some videos on my YouTube account showing us preaching in that area before.

DART Train Station

1. You cannot block access to a DART vehicle or facility when handing out material
2. You may not pass out material on board a DART vehicle or inside a DART building (like the transfer station)
3. People have the right to refuse receipt of your material
4. You may not place material on vehicles or post it on DART property.

If you intend to engage in evangelism in the DART station, please be sure to obtain a copy of our permission form from one of the team leaders.

Ross and Market

This should be a good corner to open air preach, distribute tracts and engage in one on one conversations. This area is public property. Probably we can not use any amplification. Please comply with any police directions.

Market and Corbin
This will be our main area. We will have a leader positioned at this point at all times. Please meet here at 6:45 and then meet back here at 9PM. We will provide bottles of water for our team members.

American Airlines Center – SE Corner of Houston and Olive
This is about a half mile walk from the West End. There is a Nichleback concert that starts at 6:15. However, with warm up groups, it is feasible that the crowd will still be coming when we start at 7PM. Amplification is allowed on the SE corner of Houston and Olive. Tract distribution is allowed around the American Airlines Center provided you stay within about five feet of the streets. We have open air preached around the American Airlines Center with various levels of resistance from the security of the American Airlines Center. It is best to limit yourselves to one on ones and tract distribution right around the arena and to do the open air at the SE corner of Houston and Olive.

This has been an amazing week for the ministry. Let me give you a quick review.

On Thursday, May 6th, it was the National Day of Prayer. We joined about 40 others in front of City Hall in Carrollton, TX to pray for our nation. It was an amazing time. People were calling out to God for people to repent, for leaders to repent, for churches to repent and for America to come back to God. Afterwards, we were talking with some people and decided that we should pray for our nation together more than just once a year. So since National Day of Prayer is the first Thursday of May, we decided we would meet at the City Hall the first Thursday of every month! The next one is June 3rd. Craig has decided to have a prayer time at his office in Dallas. And another brother has already mentioned they will do it in Ohio as well. If you are interested in participating in a First Monday prayer for the company at your City Hall or office, then post a comment with where you will be. If there is enough interest, I’ll put up a map on the Bezeugen website.

On Friday night, Mande, Brendan and I headed to downtown Dallas to check out the logistics for this Saturdays The Five Hundred outreach. We parked at Elm and North Houston near the book depository. This is near Dealey Plaza where JFK was assassinated. See point A on the map. We talked to a couple people. One of the vendors told us that on Saturday nights there are still people there until dark. We should be able to preach there even with an AMP! We then walked to the DART train station (Pacific between Lamar and Market on the map) where I handed out about 100 gospel tracts and had a couple of one on one conversations. You may have heard of our new tract that says on the front “If you’d like to reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ, please dispose of this card.” One gal was so upset that she literally ripped the card into at least ten pieces and then threw it in the trash can. Once she settled down, we did have a brief conversation where she (and her two friends) heard the Gospel. Then shortly later a gentlemen named Ray heard the Gospel after receiving the same card. He was totally open to the message of God’s grace available through repentance and faith in Jesus. He said he was going to go home to call out to God! at that point we walked up through the West End on Market Street. There should be some good places to preach and open air along there like at Market and Ross (point B) and Market and Corbin (point C). We did not walk up to American Airlines Center, however, on Saturday there will be a Nickleback concert there which will be a good place for people to open air preach and hand out tracts.

View Larger Map

On Saturday, I was in Oklahoma City with Shane, Brady and Adam. We first preached in the open air at the Carnality Ball. Brady had received a flier about the Carnality Ball about a month earlier and had been checking out the logistics. He beat us there. When Shane and I arrived there was no one outside and Brady said everyone had already go in. He asked me what I thought we should do. “Preach”, I said. So we set up the box and Shane’s Half Miler hailer. After prayer, I got up on the box first. When I started preaching, I think there was only one person outside of the farmers market building across the street. The amazing thing was that within a couple minutes, not only did a crowd form across the street, but the crowd presented some of the most antagonistic mocking of the Gospel that I’ve ever heard or seen. Two guys that were painted head to toe, came across the street and asked if they could take pictures with me while I was on the box. I agreed. Another guy came over with the video. And there were other videos from across the street in our direction. Please pray that when their videos are used on YouTube that the Gospel is not muted and many will hear even later. Shane, Brady, Adam and I took turns on the box. For over 90 minutes the Gospel was proclaimed. Across the street the group of mockers rotated. For most of it they formed a small three piece band with a clarinet, drumming on a plastic storage box and playing a symbol. They also sung songs and chants that mocked God. At one point they tried to drown us out by chanting about “Macaroni and Cheese!” The sight broke my heart. I dropped to my knees in prayer. As it got dark, we decided to go to Bricktown. At Bricktown, Shane, Brady and Adam preached down by the canal. I handed out a lot of tracts and had many one on one conversations.

On Monday, Craig, Todd and I went to Brookhaven College in Dallas over lunch time. We handed out about 75 bottles of water, over 100 Gospel tracts and were pretty much continually involved in conversations with the college kids for an hour and fifteen minutes. While sharing the Gospel with a group of four young people, I took them through the Law. When I asked if they had every lied, one gal said sincerely, “I guess I am going to hell!” I told her that Revelation 21:8 said that she was right. I shared a couple of more commandments with them just so they knew that was not the only issue. They agreed they would go to hell. She said it was hopeless because she could not undo what she had already done. I said, yes, we all deserve to go to hell. I then explained that there is a mediator between man and God – Jesus. When I finally told her that if she were to repent and trust in Jesus alone, that God would remove all of her sin and He wold see her “white as snow.” Her face absolutely shown when I shared that. I don’t know if she came to faith right there on the bench she was sitting on. But, she thanked me for the time. And since she does not have a Bible, I mailed one to her!

Looking to the week ahead, we have plans to share the Gospel in the Dallas West End on Thursday, door to door Thursday night, in Dallas for the 500 on Saturday night, at Arbor Hills for Project Ezra on Sunday and then back to Dallas on Monday at lunch. It should be a fun week serving the Lord.

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Today was the National Day of prayer. We joined about 40 other believers in front of the Carrollton (TX) City Hall and prayed. We prayed for our leaders. We prayer for our nations. We prayed for repentance. We prayed that our churches would preach Biblically. It was a blessed time. Afterwards we enjoyed some fellowship with the other believers that were there.

While talking, we thought, “why do we only do this one day a year?” So we quickly discussed it and decided rather than waiting until the first Thursday of May 2011, we would meet back the first Thursday of every month. I announced the plan to about 10 people who were still there. We heard a resounding, “see you next month.”

So we have decided to have a prayer meeting in front of City Hall the First Thursday of each month. Will you join us? If you live in Carrollton, will you come on June 3rd and join us? If you don’t live in the area, will you go to your City Hall and pray there for your town and our nation?

The idea for this BLOG post started a few months ago somewhat as a joke over lunch with some friends. We were discussing the concept of so called “friendship evangelism.” In many circles, friendship evangelism is where a Christian develops a relationship with a non-Christian with the hope one day of sharing the Gospel with his unsaved friend. The thing about this that is so ironic to me is that if Jesus is the most important thing in a persons life, then wouldn’t they talk about Him all the time instead of saving the information about this important relationship until months or years after a relationship develops?

Think of it this way. When we meet new friends they find out right away our home town, our favorite foods, our favorite sports teams, our kids interests and grades and our wife’s name. Wouldn’t it be odd to meet someone and not tell them for two years that you are married and have five kids? Well, in the same way, if Jesus is the most important relationship in your life, wouldn’t it make sense to tell them right away.

Jon Speed, in his book Evangelism in the New Testament, proposes a new definition for friendship evangelism:

“This is true friendship evangelism: a friendship that begins (not ends) with the proclamation of the gospel. It is based entirely on the gospel rather than on sporting or social events designed to sneak the gospel into the conversation at some later date.”

With this in mind, it bring me back to that lunch with friends a few months ago. We were talking about how sometimes we get friend requests of Facebook from people that we have never known. Since I mostly post on facebook about Jesus, witnessing and the Bible, I figure that anyone who I “friend” will hear the Gospel. But, to takes Jon’s approach, would be to actively try to “friend” people with the intent to share the Gospel up front. So tonight I decided to give it a try. I was actually looking for a friend. But, when I searched for his name and did not find a profile for him, I found that there were two other people on Facebook that had the same name as my friend. So I decided to send a friend request to introduce myself, share the Gospel and ask if they want to be friends in the context that they have heard the Gospel. I sent them the following message message within the friend request:

Hi – you don’t know me. I was looking for another friend with the same name as you. So I thought, hey, I’ll just send a friend invite anyway.

So that is an interesting profile picture that you have. And the message “caught in reality for an eternity” is sure interesting.

Speaking of eternity, where will you spend eternity?

The Bible says it is appointed once to die and then the judgment based on God’s Ten Commandments. Have you kept the Ten Commandments? Have you ever told a lie? What does that make you? (a liar) Have you ever stolen anything? What does that make you (not just a thief, but a lying thief) Have you ever looked with lust? Jesus said to look with lust is the same as adultery. What does that make you? (a lying, theiving adulterer at heart). If God judges you by this standard, will he find you innocent or guilty? Will he send you to heaven or hell?

Does that concern you?

The good news of the Gospel is that God does not want to send you to hell. 2000 years ago he sent his son Jesus to earth. Jesus being fully man and fully God, lived a perfect life and fulfilled God’s Law.He paid the price for your sin (and mine) when he willingly went to the cross and died. Three days later, he rose from the dead and is now in heaven. The Bible says he will come again in judgment. How do we get eternal life? Jesus says “repent or perish!” If you will repent (turn from sin) and put your trust in Jesus alone, then you will have eternal life.

So there it is. The gospel. Jesus is the most important thing in my life. I wanted to get that out in the front. I hope you’ll accept my friend request so we can discuss eternity.

Carl

I won’t know how this turn out until I hear back from them!

Last month we made AfterLifeCatalog t-shirts. Several people wanted white shirts instead of black. So we have worked with the printer to re-work the images for black on white instead of white on black. Below is a picture of me wearing my shirt at an outreach in the park recently.

These shirts get lots of comments. On the front it says “Where will you spend eternity?” So hear is the deal. We are going to be placing another order for t-shirts. If you want one, please specify black or white, size, quantity and your mailing address. Send the information to me via the contact page. Each shirt is $15.

Tonight the Dallas Mavericks played the San Antonio Spurs in game six of their playoff series. The American Airlines Center hosted a “watch party” where people could bring lawn chairs out to the Victory Plaza on the south end of the arena and watch the game on the huge HD screens that they have there. About 1000 fans came out. The picture below is from after we were done witnessing and people are sitting around watching the game.

Prior to the watch party starting, my youngest son and I handed out tracts and I did some open air preaching. Lately, I’ve been studying the excellencies of Christ based on some teaching from Matt Johnson. Last Sunday, I read through the titles and descriptions of Jesus in the open air at the park. Unfortunately, then, I forgot to bring my voice recorder. This time, I brought my voice recorder, however, I ran out of memory. You can listen to the first 20 minutes or so online. Below is a picture of me reading the list. I’m standing at the corner of Houston and Olive in Dallas.

 When I finished preaching, we put the box and back pack back in the car and then handed out some tracts. We even met an ex-Oklahoma football player who is born again. When I shared that with someone he asked “did you say boomer and he say sooner?” I told him no, I handed him a tract and said, “did you get one of these?” He asked, “what is it?” I told him it was a Gospel tract. He said, “oh, that’s great.” So I asked, “Are you a believer?” He said yes and then began to explain how he came to repentance and faith about two years ago. I gave him my contact info and he said he would call me. I pray that we can do some evangelism together.

Brendan was a real trooper and handed out a bunch of tracts!