"Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them,
even them that contended with thee:
they that war against thee shall be as nothing,
and as a thing of nought."
Isaiah 41:12
March 2003 Newsletter
"Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them,
even them that contended with thee:
they that war against thee shall be as nothing,
and as a thing of nought."
Isaiah 41:12
CONTENDING WITH GOD
It is hard
not to take the contentions of the enemies of God personal when you stand in
representation for Him on the street. Let us
remember, like the verse says above… “they…shall be as nothing, and as a
thing of nought.” While holding my twin
towers banner in Tempe, AZ., an enemy of God came and contended with God through me. He got to within one inch of my nose, glared at
me, breathed his alcoholic breath on me while he blasphemed, threatened, and verbally
aggravated the situation for a full 20 minutes. I never flinched, but must admit boredom
after five minutes. Then, quick as a flash,
he wrenched my banner from me and violently threw it on the ground, narrowly missing the
crowd which had gathered to see the fight. I
wrestled the banner away from him with the help of some good men there with me, and we
flew it higher than ever. I warned him that
the banner was private property and that I would prosecute if he moved against it again. His buddies pulled him away into the crowd. “His fight was with God,” I reminded myself.
REAPING A DIFFICULT HARVEST
Here is an
email I received from Chris Loop, missionary to Korea concerning the street ministry of
Bible Baptist Church, Pastor Song Lee, in Seoul, Korea.
“Every
Saturday, seventeen different groups from the church go out and preach on the street in
various places and cities in, and around Seoul. Others
preach on other nights as well. Pastor and
his team preach on Friday, across the street from a very popular Korean University. I literally watched thousands of people per hour
receiving tracts and hearing the preaching. The
groups consist of about ten people each and they go armed for battle with a PA system,
banners and KJ Bibles. One soldier among
them reminds me of the story in 1 Sam. 30. He
is crippled in the use of his hands and so he “stays by the stuff.” He watches all the gear while the others minister. He was saved on a street meeting and now rarely
misses. The preaching is very powerful
awakening many from their spiritual sleep. They
reported 468 people saved this month as a result of 170 faithful church members willing to
go out and bear the reproach of Christ. The
weather does not deter these veterans, neither do they give heed to what others say or
think. There are 50,000 churches in Korea
with less than 10% preaching the gospel. When
the people hear it on the street many are saved. Last
year the report was 17,000 souls won to Christ in this ministry. This is not the ‘easy-believism’ found
preached in many churches today. This is, “Repentance toward God, and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ..”
What an
encouraging report this is. We may not be in
this harvest field but if we mustered equal numbers and zeal, the Lord would give us
proportionate fruit.
ON
THE
STREETS
We preached
many times on the streets of Austin, TX. both downtown and on the campus of U. of TX. The
street-preaching platoon here in our home church is very strong, solid and faithful. I plan to take three of my college class
preacher-boys with me when I go to NYC next month. I
want to use them as an example to set before the new Bible College where I will be
teaching and training in publick ministry. These
guys are the cream of the crop. I spent a
week with Terrell Bear in Las Vegas. He is
going there to start a rescue mission and he needed a photographer. We scoured the bad section of town where the
homeless dwell, and preached and took many photos for his display and slide presentation. We preached all over Vegas and had a wonderful
time in the process. With my twin towers
banner, (see it on the web at www.streetpreaching.com)
we were the most photographed object on Freemont St.
Bear will be a natural in this ministry.
He has instant rapport with the street bums.
He is worthy of your consideration for missions.
IN
THE
CHURCHES
We served
the Lord in Scenic Hills Baptist, Pastor Gary Evans, Austin, TX., True Vine Baptist,
Pastor Ed Ware, Glendale, AZ., and our home church…Capitol City Baptist, Pastor Hank
Thompson, Austin TX. We are always happy when
the Lord allows us to minister in these great churches across our land.
PERSONAL
Robin and
Mary Bethany continue to struggle with some health problems, but are generally much
improved. Please continue to pray for them. Caroline is going to stay with us and become part
of our family and the SWAT team. She is a
wonderful teenager and a great asset to our home and ministry. She will appear on our next prayer card. She will be 18 on April 30th. Robin led her to the Lord when she was about 8
years old when we served the Lord in N. Ireland. Thank
you for your support of our ministry both in prayer and finance.