Fruiful conversations

The Jesus Freaks gathered again on Friday night at the Mall of America for an evening of fellowship and witnessing. It is great to know that when we go to MOA, we know that the weather will not be a problem, and there are always great crowds of people. We headed out in our groups to witness for Christ.

I worked on my own for a bit, walking around and handing out “Genius” and “180” DVDs. Sometimes people wouldn’t be interested, other times I needed to explain who John Lennon was and the Beatles, and other times people quickly volunteered to take the free DVDs. 

Then I met back up with Ted and Mike, and then Ted and I broke off and continued walking. We encountered so many people who were not Christians, but were willing to stand and talk with us for up to 20-30 minutes at a time. We met a man who told us he believed there is some “greater being” out there, and that he had studied many of the worlds religions and believed they were all referencing the same God. Happiness and not hurting others were the keys to living a good life. Ted explained to the man that the only way to salvation was through Jesus Christ, and emphasized that Christ was crucified and rose again. I emphasized the authority of God and emphasized that if the man believed there was a God out there, didn’t he think that this God would be just, and would also want to connect with his people through Christ Jesus. After a great dialogue, the man conceded that perhaps he needed to go back through the Bible and take it into account once again. It was such a fruitful conversation and all agreed that God likely intended for us to meet in this way. 

Later on in the night, I was passing out “180” DVDs as we walked, and after giving some to a group of people, a man stopped us and asked us what the DVD was about. We stopped and explained the DVD, and proceeded to witness to this man for about 20 minutes or so. He was working at one of the mall kiosks. He too said he had read all of the religious texts and questioned us thoroughly regarding our views regarding why God would take sides in a war, why God would allow bad things to happen to people, if we observed the Sabbath, why there were different versions of the Bible, if we believed in miracles, how the stars must be from the big bang, and how we could explain the existence of dinosaurs. Ted and I responded to each of his questions as best we could, and while doing so, we mixed in the Gospel where we could. It is a great feeling to work through these questions, and it is also very rewarding to do so with people who have taken the time to study “religion”. These people are searching for the answers, but they are looking in the wrong places. I really do feel that most all of the people we witnessed to would be returning home to open up their Bible once again. 

The Holy Spirit was with us through the entire night, leading us into and through deep and affecting conversations. And at times I did not have all of the answers for some of these questions. When I got home I went straight away to seek out those answers in the Bible. They are all there. And in two weeks I will go back out to witness, armed with new understanding and information. 

Phil