Impressions from Jesus Freaks evangelism

Impressions from Jesus Freaks evangelism April 24, 2013

This is my second attempt at street evangelism. It was like shock and awe, being exposed to a bone chilling coldness on a warm evening. I felt like a deer in headlights trying to follow Mike’s leading into the storm of insanity that is downtown Minneapolis on a Friday night. Oh, and don’t forget about my mind numbing terror riding right on the back of the Holy Spirit’s prompting and urging!

This was not the safe haven of Wayzata Free Church. It was all the world’s rawness in living color. It was the Lord verses the proud and arrogant all over again.

We were seeking out the lost and hurting. The Lord has given me an outgoing personality, but even so, I felt strangely out of place. I was desperately holding on to God’s promises of protection and hope while being confronted with my former life in the abyss of sin and rebellion.

When I think back on the evening, I see many faces. There were faces of mistrust, suspicion, anger, pride, pain, hurt and a quiet desperation. I felt like I had marbles in my mouth while trying to get the right words out. It just seems so hard to break through the fog of this world. There are many time that I don’t even know why God reached down and pulled me out of the slimy pit. God broke me down until I had to finally admit I wasn’t going anywhere fast.

The bottom line is, I will continue to do what is necessary to serve my Lord Jesus. All I can and want to do is be the Jeremiah 20:9 guy He made me to be.

Andy L.

making myself available

I have been given so many opportunity's to witness to people at a few parks already in the last 3 days. This weather is awesome!

We had the Jesus Freaks last Friday night and wow the turn out is beyond expected. Praise Jesus!

 There was 19 people out on the streets of Downtown Mpls. proclaiming the gospel of Christ. I also ran into other evangelist and we talked and encouraged one another. We go out on the same nights. Praise Jesus!

I walked with Andy he is 60 years old and is on fire for the Lord. He found us on the internet. Praise Jesus!

 He attends Wayzata E-free and is looking to get something started with his church. He plans in coming out with the Jesus Freaks once a month. Wait for his blog post.

Wednesday night I am giving my testimony at a local church possible 170 students and adult volunteers.

This is a student from the youth group I gave my testimony to in 2006 at the last church I attended. He is now a  youth Pastor. He asked me a year ago to do this and the date has arrived.


Galatians 2:20  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.


Mark 16:15  He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.


I Love being a child of the one true King. Jesus!

Mike 

gently persuaded

Last Friday night a large group of college students and young adults spent their Friday night at the Mall of America.  Our goal was not to socialize or window-shop, it was to proclaim to glory of the gospel of God to whomever would hear it in the hopes that they too would receive Jesus as their savior. 

The Mall has an increasingly diverse demographic of visitors.  I have personally found that the affluent white community is generally disinterested in having conversations about God and spirituality, and many of the members of our group and myself have experienced a hand-full of rejections from this group.  However, many of the people from other cultures are open to hearing the truth and we were glad to share it.  

We paired up in twos and I went out with my faithful brother in Christ, Kyle.  We were quickly amazed by the grace of God as we were blessed with a number of fruitful conversations.  Our first was with a man from India who believed in the Hindu religion.  When we attempted to explain the good news of Jesus with him, he explained that he believed that Jesus was one of many Gods.  We explained that Jesus was the one true God and the only way to come to the Father.  Although he was not open to believing at that time, we were grateful that he was opening to hearing.

We next came across a Nigerian man who was visiting the United States.  He was a Catholic, and his theology was tainted by the belief that Jesus' sacrifice was inadequate and that he had do good things to merit God's love.  We gently explained that Jesus was sufficient to cover our sins and that our trust ought only to be in him alone, otherwise we make out his sacrifice to be imperfect and we do not know him.  He kindly heard our message and we pray that it took root in his heart.

Another encounter we had was with a Chinese man named Peter who encouraged us with the story of his recent conversion and his plans to return to China to preach the good news.  We prayed with him and said that we would remember to lift him up in the hopes that many more would be saved through his witness.  

A final conversation I would like to share was with a Russian man.  He initially said that he did not want to speak with us, yet Kyle gently persuaded him to hear our message.  We shared with him the path of salvation through the Christ.  He continued to protest against our message, but did not end the discussion.  After a short while, his wife joined us and was eager to hear our message.  We praise God that she was open to hearing and hope also that the word of God has gripped her's and her husband's souls.  

These experiences made it very much worthwhile to devote a Friday evening to building up the Kingdom of Heaven.  Although speaking with strangers can be intimidating, God's spirit is more than capable of overcoming any hindrance.  Evangelism is not an optional activity for a Christian, it is a mandate of Jesus Christ.  When one is in the midst of sharing the Gospel with an unbeliever, the presence of God is experienced in a new and very pleasant way.  So, whether it be with us or not, I encourage you to be active in sharing your faith with unbelievers, and to keep in mind that we are always eager to have new people come alongside us and join us in our mission.

In Christ, 

Ross Tenneson

every opportunity

Today I had a day off of work. So this morning I called a man about replacing the garage door springs as ours had broke a couple weeks ago.

Trying to find a time that would work for him as this was not an emergency. I had mentioned next week and he got me in today. Jeff and his son came and replaced the springs in less than an hour and at a great price.

As they worked I chatted with them and talked about their interests. When they had finished the job and were cleaning up I handed Jeff the check and a gospel tract(1,000,000 bill) I also gave one to his son.

 I mention that there is a gospel message on the back and ask that they would read it. I mention that there is nothing that I can say or do, it is between them and God. They thank me and we talk about an estimate on a new door in the future.

 So you see this is not the end of the witness only the beginning. Now we pray for the Lord to work in their lives. That someone would come and water the seed. Only God can make the seed grow not us.

Today is the day of salvation. Are you concerned for the lost, are you planting seeds? How are others going to water if there is nobody planting?

Everybody loves this verse. Romans 8:²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

If this is saying that you are the called according to his purpose. Then why do so many think that this one below doesn't apply to them?

Mark 16: ¹⁵ And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

Mike 

back in jail again

It has been 8 months since I have been in jail. I was devoting my time doing street ministry investing into lost souls. I was trying to fit everything in but something had to go and God was letting me figure that out.
I since have stopped being a small group leader in order to do the work of the evangelist. I am now doing street ministry and back on rotation in preaching to the captives. I love it! This is where God wants me.

As I was parking my car on the street across from the jail I made eye contact with a man waiting in a car. I waited a few minutes and the man got out of his car and approached mine. I thought he was going to offer to sell me something. He was looking for a man who looked like me. I got out of my car and handed him a tract and began to explain what was on the back. He stopped me half way through and told me that he was saved 2 days ago." Praise Jesus" I said. I gave him a word of encouragement and I headed into the jail.

I begin the message with Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing,And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;We all fade as a leaf,And our iniquities, like the wind,Have taken us away.
I tell them that there is no way to please God except through repentance and trust in Jesus Christ.

I begin preaching on Matthew 13
³ Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶ But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸ But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

I explain each soil and give illustrations for them as I was just at the MOA the night before sharing the gospel. I go through the 10 commandments and how we have broke all of them. I share my testimony with them and show the authority in which God has given me to be here tonight preaching to them. If it wasn't for Jesus Christ I would be dead or in prison. I share with them the struggles that they are going through and that I have been there. They all see that I am speaking truth and all eye's are focused on what I am saying. They begin to speak out and say" that's right"," you know it" and they realize that I have been down that road.

By the end of the night I am praying for the fire to ignite inside them and do not hide it under a bowl. Let everyone see what is inside them. As the service ends the men come and shake my hand and thank me for the message. They tell me that I encouraged them and offered them Hope and say thank you. One man was tattooed all over  came to me and said "look at me I thought there was no hope for me"."You gave me hope". He said " you don't' know how much you encouraged me" and gave me a hug with tears in his eyes.
There were many others who had shared with me, but that sticks out the most.

Mike

"it's not my gift"

Hello, my name is Tony. I am a sophomore at Bethel University and have been going out with the Jesus Freaks doing street evangelism since around mid December. I'm not going to lie, the first time I was invited to do street evangelism, I was deathly scared. Going up to a complete stranger and sharing the Gospel is so counterculture, I didn't want to do it. I began to think of excuses like "it's not my gift" or "most people have already heard the Gospel" or even "I wouldn't be good at it.". 

 

God graciously pursued me and wouldn't take no for an answer. I began to ponder why I wouldn't go evangelizing and all of my reasons were completely selfish. My main reasoning was it got me out of my comfort zone. I thought everyone would look at me and think "man, that guy is some crazy wacky guy". I continued to ponder going out and evangelizing, and then I just got smacked in the face by the Holy Spirit. Weren't the disciples of Jesus looked at as just crazy guys? Wasn't Paul looked at like he was a bit wacky? Those guys had far more reasons than I did not to share the Gospel, yet they risked their life sharing the Gospel, and ultimately died for sharing it.

 

 I have the greatest news to give people ever. I can tell people about Jesus, about his love, about the eternal life he offers. There is nothing on this earth that is more valuable than a faith in Jesus. Why was I so ashamed of sharing the news of Jesus if I truly believed it was priceless? "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile." - Romans 1:16.

 

 I realized I was not ashamed, just simply scared, but with enough prayer, God brought me the strength I needed to share the Gospel. I eventually went out evangelizing one time in December and I will never be the same. God provided me the strength and the power to share the life altering message of the Gospel. I now have so much pride, not in myself, but in the Gospel message. There's no pressure on me to make the Gospel message appealing. When I share, it's the Holy Spirit working within me. 1 Corinthians 3:7 says that  "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." It is not me going out and sharing the Gospel. It is God graciously working through me in order to bring more people to Him.

 

 If you haven't ever gone out and evangelized, I would encourage you to think about what is stopping you. Pray about it and listen to what God has to say. I would encourage you to just get out and give it a shot and let the Holy Spirit work through you. Put all your faith in Jesus and let him work through you in order to bring more people to Him. I will leave you all with this "But he said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” - Luke 18:27

God Bless

-Tony

Jesus Freak explosion

Last night at the MOA was an amazing time of fruitfulness. The Jesus Freaks had the biggest turnout in proclaiming the gospel of Christ. There was 6 women and 15 men (21) armed for battle against the evil one and his demons.

Everyone had fulfilled missions to share as the night was over and we met for a recap of the night. There were ones that fell on good soil, thorny soil, rocky soil,and to the way side as satan plucked away the seed. My words will never capture all of the details of investing into a lost soul. You need to experience this for yourselves. Just ask anybody who shares there faith regularly. I went out with Al and Eric we would speak to whoever God directs us , and there were many.

Just as God wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Does this not include sharing the gospel with them. And you know that every one is our neighbor. And Jesus commands all of us when He stated this.
Mark 16:15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."

I will tell you of one witness last night I had with a woman and 5 girls about 11 yrs. old. I spoke to the woman first and gave her a tract and said that I have children tracts for the girls. They took them with excitement. I said I just ask that you read it when you get a chance. 

We continued to walk around the corner and witness to others standing there. No more than 3 minutes go by and a few of the girls walk over to me and say they cannot take theses tracts. My response was why? They said they go against christian living. I said no they don't. They then said if a non christian read this they would feel bad. Exactly how you want them to feel I said. I told them that the 10 commandments is a mirror we need to look into and see how how dirty we are in Gods sight. 

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthyrags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. 

Then the mother comes around the corner angrily telling us that she doesn't believe in Jesus and that she was a Jew. She continues to speak loudly and say that we shouldn't be doing what we are doing. I tell her that we are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. She gets louder at this point and tells me to leave her girls alone. I say, I asked you first if I could give the tracts to them. Again with a loud voice says leave my girls alone, I will call security. We left and continued speaking to others.

Matthew 5 

¹¹ “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. ¹² Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Mike