A small group of us from Church went out last night for some street evangelism. This time a fellow named Shawn from our church decided to join us for the first time.
Before he arrived I was teasing Hector (who is a co-leader for the Evangelism team), because it was a cold night and he came wearing a t-shirt and shorts, he was obviousley cold and uncomfortable.
After we met up with Shawn, Hector and I briefly discussed with him the principles we learned from the Way of the Master training course so he would know why we would say what we would when witnessing. Right before we headed out, Shawn, who is from Singapore, got a call from a friend from home. He mentioned to his friend that we were about to head out for some street evangelism to which his friend replied "ok I'll be praying for you all" and hung up so we could get started. Shawn looked at us and smiled, "We have some people praying for us in Singapore tonight."
Shawn had an idea to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art instead of our normal Water Tower Mall location. So we wen there. It was a lot quieter and more people were sitting in small groups rather than hustling to and fro. It looked perfect, we immediately went to work passing out tracts and talking with small groups. I got into a pretty nice conversation with a fellow named Lenn, who claimed to be "baptist" but didn't know how to be saved from sin and told me he was "afraid to learn." I was able to share the Gospel with him just before his group left.
A little later we handed a couple of folks a Million Dollar Bill Tracts and older of the two shouted "Hallelujah" when she saw it. I asked if they were believers and the lady, who's name was Gypsy, said "of course!" She explained to me that the young fellow of about 17 she was with was in town helping out her church to do some small renovations. Hector asked if they were born again, and again she replied, "of course." So He asked the young guy, Chris, and he shyly shook his head, "no."
"Do you know how to be born again?" Hector asked, and again Chris shrugged and quietly said, "i dunno." Gypsy looked excited as she said, "tell him tell him!" So we did. That type of thing doesn't happen often, it was encouraging.
The last guy we handed a million dollar bill to said "Cool, Thanks man! Ray comfort, Sweet! keep it up guys!" His name was also Shawn. He was a brother and he took some time to encourage and pray for us and our families and for those who we spoke with that night to know the Lord.
Once our trip was over and we were heading back to our cars Shawn confessed to us about his hesitation to join us for the street evangelism. He was nervous at first and almost didn't come but by the end all of his doubts were gone and he said he was so glad that he could join us and plans to come out with us every time we go. I told Shawn that I feel that way every time.
Most days we go out for witnessing we are met with some rejection and very few people willing to stop and talk. Last night was different. I think the Lord used the openness of the people we encountered last night to encourage Shawn, even the rest of us, to continue spreading the word, it's not that hard.
