Evangelizing With My Guys
I went downtown today (around the lunch hour) with a couple of my guys, Jorge (on the left) and Andrés (on the right). Jorge has been around for a good while — he’s a very good discipler and teacher — and Andrés is just getting plugged in. I preached twice and we were able to pass out almost 1,000 tracts. Lots of people interested; the crowds held up well and the people stuck around until we finished, asking for tracts afterward.
These kinds of outtings with my guys gives me the opportunity to just hang out with them and be a “regular guy,” while at the same time “discipling” them in the Mission of evangelizing the lost. We get to talk, laugh, and witness to the lost together. I love it! It’s like the icing on the cake in the ministry for me. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Andŕes on the Coke crate very soon.
I know the audios are in Spanish, but you can at least hear a little of what it’s like out on the streets of San José open-air preaching. The other links are to some pics we took; they’re in English… :-)
First time, around 11:00 am
- Audio, about 30 minutes
- Getting things ready
- Drawing a crowd
- Preaching the Gospel
- Explaining things
- Giving out tracts after
Second time, around 12:15 pm
- Audio, about 45 minutes
- Getting ready (I look so ALONE…!!!) :-)
- Starting to draw a crowd
- Getting serious about drawing a crowd
- Preaching
- The local news station showed up and videoed almost the whole message: cameraman_01 | cameraman_02 | cameraman_03
- Preaching and explaining
- The crowd, from above
- The crowd, from the street
- Giving out tracts afterward: tracts_01 | tracts_02 | tracts_03
- The reporter from the news station interviewed the guy I nabbed for my “Good Test.” His name was Leslie, and he spoke positively of the message: reporter_01 | reporter_02
- After preaching for a good while, I had the opportunity to use the curves to get it all going again.
- Here are a couple pics of the people with tracts: after_01 | after_02
3 comments
Incredible! Praise God! What a sight! I wish I understood Spanish so I could hear as well. Seeing the people reaching for the tracts makes me almost cry. This is what it’s about. I need to come see God working in Costa Rica. Every preacher should be on the streets. It reminds me of Paul and the Book of Acts.
Hey, Brent. Thanks for writing. I love hearing from you!
I agree: This IS what it’s all about. Even discipleship. I think we have this idea that we “make disciples” by discipling (taking people through Bible study lessons). But, we make a disciple evangelizing, and then we take them through Bible study lessons to ground them in sound doctrine and train them to go and make their own disciples evangelizing.
“Every preacher should be on the streets.” AMEN! :-) I agree! It gives a wonderful perspective to the pastor.
And your last comment really gets my attention: Like “Paul and the Book of Acts.” I started a study of Acts a couple years ago — just going through the book and trying to use it to evaluate my ministry, my church, my walk with the Lord, etc. What a difference! “Ministry” today so often looks nothing like what we see in the Book of Acts. And I gotta ask: “Why is that?” I know we don’t look for signs and wonders, but Paul did say, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” So, I started changing some things, and I’m still in that process. I would love for our ministry here to look like the ministry we see in the Book of Acts, especially in the life and ministry of Paul.
Check out this quote by Dr. J.S. Stewart: “…that is why, at every point in history where the Church of Christ has been carried on some wave of revival back to reality and self-consecration, thousands of men and women have rediscovered Paul, and have thrilled again to the music of his message.”
Whenever you (or anyone else for that matter!) want to come down, just let me know. The only thing I’ll charge you is a boat-load of tracts — bring tracts! We need tracts! Bring some, and we can spend a week together in fellowship and ministry, mostly on the streets preaching, witnessing, and “making disciples.”
Greg,
I will! I ordered Ray Comforts “Open Air Preaching” and look forward to standing on that Coke crate myself, God willing. I don’t know if you know this or not but I am in the printing industry. If you can send me the files, I’ll print all the tracts you need. If you don’t have files, I’ll try to develop them here.
And I’d like to talk to you about being involved in “A Million Tracts to Costa Rica”. It can be done. I’ve seen it happen twice.
I’m teaching on the book of Acts right now. I’d love to get your notes (in English) if you have them available.
We’ll continue to pray for your ministry and for revival in Costa Rica. I look forward to working with you serving Christ till His return.
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