Witnessing with Children

       My kids often ask if they can come along and street witness to others. After a number of requests and the desire to model witnessing to my children, I decided to take them along. I have been including them each week in outreaches and street evangelism outings.

The boys and I at the Titanic Museum in Branson, MO. We were excited to have such a perfect tract for this area. Especially since no one we met knew about the Titanic trivia on the tract.



       One of their favorite things to do is handing out Trillion Dollar Bill tracts. They do such a good job too. They listen to what I say to people and even tell some of my ice-breaker jokes to people.

I recently found some photos on a memory card that never got posted. Here is a rare picture of me sharing the Gospel with a man on the streets of Albuquerque, NM. (I am usually taking the pictures :)



       This has been a great way for them to see how to act on their concern for peoples' eternal salvation. I think this is important for children to see and take part in. Whether it be praying for non-believers, volunteering or participating in an outreach there are many ways to serve the Lord in evangelism.

 Door to Door

       We are in Branson Missouri and have been helping out at Calvary Chapel of Branson. Pastor Sparky Ferguson has a heart for Branson and sharing the Gospel door to door. But, his health and the consecutive weeks of 100 degree temperatures have hindered his ability to do much walking around outside. So, this has been a great opportunity for us to serve the local church. This was also a first for us, as we have never gone door to door. So we made some flyers and took some New Testaments and Gospel of John booklets to pass out as well.

        And, of course, we brought some tracts too. Some times people were home and didn't answer the door. Most people who are home and answer their door are nice and give us a few minutes to talk to them. Those people who get excited about what we are doing tell us of which church they go to and send us on our way with encouraging words. We will continue going door to door this coming week.

Never Leave Home Without Them

        Wallet sized tracts have been one of my favorite tracts to pass out when I open my wallet at the store. I have been using the IQ Test tracts from LivingWaters.com. I put them by my debit card and give one to the cashier. Usually, cashiers are busy and don't have time to chit chat, so I give them the tract and tell them that it is something fun to read on their break. These tracts are a available with different IQ tests on the front. They have the answers on the back. There is a second test on the back that ask questions about God and gives the Gospel. If no one is in line behind you, most cashiers start reading it while you are there. This becomes a great opportunity to answer questions and ask them about Jesus Christ.

All the tracts mentioned above are available from LivingWaters.com. We buy nearly all of our ministry resources from them. Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, E.Z. Zwayne, Tony Miano, Mark Spence and the rest of Living Waters staff work hard to share the Gospel and equip Christians to share their faith in Jesus Christ. I encourage everyone to visit their website. Stock up on tracts and check out their free resources. 

May God bless you and guide you.

Christopher      

Our First Blowout

      

       Praise God we were able to safely pull over to the side of the road. And, thank God for the blowout of a trailer tire instead of an RV tire. After I was able to view the damage, I started looking for the tools. I continued looking for the tools and they weren't in the back of our van by the rear door as usual. This lead to a road side unpacking session.

       It was already hot inside our RV while driving as the RV's air conditioning doesn't work. Outside in the sun was miserable. Trying to figure out how to change the trailer tire with a van still on it, just added to my frustration. I was able to figure it out, find the tools and change the tire. During this time I was thinking, why me? Why on this hot day did we have to break down? God quickly interrupted my brief pity party with the thoughts of our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. I admit, I felt ashamed that a flat tire got me so worked up.

       Later that day we called a few tire shops and found one that could put our spare tire on the rim while we waited. They were short handed and one of the guys working in the front of the shop went into the back to get us on the road faster and avoid a long wait. I was very thankful as it had already been a long hot day. I shared the Gospel with the man who fixed our tire. He had customers waiting and sent me on my way with no charge. As I drove away, the Holy Spirit gave me the thought, that the blowout was God's way of directing us to a man who needed the Gospel. It's so easy to look at the day as my day, instead of a day that I have asked God to direct. Therefore, what may seem on the surface a problem, is really a unique opportunity to meet people we normally wouldn't have crossed paths with.

       The trials and tribulations that I and most Christians in the U.S. face are trivial in comparison to the church in China, North Korea, Nigeria and the list goes on. The thought never crosses our mind, what if our church is bombed today? Will I be discovered as a Christian today and sent to a prison labor camp? We don't worry about hiding our Bibles from the government.

       The persecution that our brothers and sister face in many countries is much more gruesome than these examples. And yes, Christians today are being martyred. Please visit the websites below for more information on pursecution of Christians in the world. These site are a great place to stop by often and intercede with prayer.

http://www.persecution.com/ 

http://www.persecution.org/

http://www.christianpersecution.info/

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” 2 Cor. 12:9 – 10

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.” John 15:18-20 NIV

God bless you all and thank you for praying for our safety.

-Christopher

4th of July Gospel Tract Blitz

Pittsburgh Boat Races

       We made a visit to Pittsburgh for the Three Rivers Regatta with Gospel Tracts in hand.  This is an annual boat race with a large expo area. We had a great time talking to people about Jesus and passing out the Million Dollar 4th of July tracts from LivingWaters.com.

 Our three oldest boys got into the action and gave all the adults around them a tract. One of the event officials kindly asked us to stop distributing the tracts and we did. Thankfully, this was after we had given out about 600 tracts. God is good. They could have stopped us in the first ten minutes of us passing out tracts. We had seen and offered tracts from the start. It was obvious that God opened up a window of time for us to share the Gospel. Once we left the event area, we were free to continue witnessing in downtown Pittsburgh.

Wheeling Waterfront 4th of July Firework Display       

       The city of Wheeling hosted a firework display over the Ohio river. The fireworks were set to go off from one of the bridges. The Wheeling Symphony Orchestra gave a free outdoor concert leading up the firework show. Many people showed up hours early to get a good spot, us included. Some people brought food for a picnic and other enjoyed the concessions.

       The boys and I noticed a brand new RV that the police had set up as a mobile command center. One of the senior police offices gave us an impromptu tour of the RV. It was a mini police station inside. The boys loved it. After our tour of the RV, we figured that enough people had show up for us to start handing out tracts. We got half way through the crowd and ran out of tracts. I thought that 1,500 4th of July tracts might be too ambitious to hand out in one weekend. Silly me. Nothing is too ambitious when you're working to spread the Gospel. It reminded me of one the quotes from A. A. Allen, "If you are walking with Jesus, in the Spirit, you need not fear going too far. No believer has gone as far as God wants him to go."

God Bless.

- Christopher

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24

Wheeling River Front, WV

Please pray for these men:

Al – He is staying with his daughter at night. He needs a job.

Art – He is homeless and living under a bridge at night. We were able to give Art a pair of reading glasses that he needed

Dennis – Says he knows about God but is a long way from Him.

 Please pray these men to seek Jesus and His provision. They all needs a job, housing, food, and fellowship. I explained to each of them the Biblical Gospel starting with our holy God. We discussed sin and how the 10 commandments leave all people guilty before God. I told them, ‘Just as you would expect any decent judge to deliver convicted criminals to jail, so does a righteous God.’ God’s holy standard requires that we punishes guilty sinners, because he is good and righteous. The Bible is clear on the sinfulness of all people. Remember, God does not judge us based on a comparison to how good or bad other people may seem. In the book of Romans, we are told that ‘there is none righteous, no, not one.’ It also tells us that ‘while we were yet sinners, Jesus Christ dies for us and gave Himself for us.’ True hope is only found in Jesus Christ.

-Christopher

Ministry Needs

These are needed items for homeless care packs:

Small Bibles/New Testaments
Bottles of water
Protein/meal bars
Small shampoo/shampoo and conditioner combos
Toothbrushes
Travel size toothpaste
Razors/shavers
Travel size shaving cream
Ponchos
Emergency blankets
Homemade first aid kits (small ziplock bags containing a few large bandaids and antiseptic)
Gallon size ziplock bags (to put the care package items in)

We are currently in need of these items as we just have a few homeless care packs left.

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