Bezeugen BLOG

Today at the mall, Todd, Byron and I were having a discussion about the difference between “friendship evangelism” and “contact evangelism”. Friendship evangelism supposes that someone needs to “earn the right” to share the Gospel with their friend by developing a long lasting relationship. Then in some cases, the “Christian” might invite the non-Christian to a sporting event or something in order to share the Gospel with their friend. On the other hand, “contact evangelism” is what many would consider a more confrontational approach. In this method, the Gospel is shared up front with strangers. I highly recommend Jon Speed’s book, “Evangelism in the New Testament” for a much more through explanation of these subjects. I’ll summarize, what Jon states in his book, that true Biblical friendship evangelism “begins, not ends” with the Gospel.

Consider for a moment, what is the most important thing in your life? Now consider when you meet a new friend. Do you tell your new friend about this “important thing” up front? Or do they have to wait two years and then you invite them out to lunch and you sit down and say, “Oh, Joe, I just wanted to let you know that the most important thing in my life is…” No. That is ridiculous. If it is important to you, then you would tell them up front. 


Consider for a minute, would you wait two years into the friendship to tell your friend that you are married? No, of course not. Would you wait two years into the friendship to tell your friend who your favorite college or professional sports team is? No, of course not. Would you wait two years into the friendship with your new friend to tell them where you work? No, of course not. So, then if Jesus is important to you, why wouldn’t you tell them right away. Right up front in the relationship!

So today at the mall we decided to test this theory. Todd and I were walking and saw a young man standing over looking the ice rink.

Carl: “hi”

Young man: “hi”

Carl: “got time for a quick question?”

YM: “sure”

Carl: “my friends and I were just discussion something”

YM: “oh”

Carl: “we were discussing whether when meeting someone new if we should tell them the most important thing in our lives up front, or wait a couple year, build a relationship and then tell them.”

YM: “I’d want to hear about it right away”

Carl: “well, the thing that is the most important to me is Jesus.”

YM: “oh”

Carl: “so who do you think Jesus is?”

Anyway, at that point Todd and I had a nice discussion about how the Law separates us all from God, that Jesus is the only way of salvation and that Jesus is excellent beyond what we can imagine or deserve. At the end of the conversation I said, “now you know the most important thing to me is Jesus. If you’d like to be friends, give me a call sometime and we can have lunch.” Then I handed him my business card. He thanked us for our time. Please pray for Mookie’s salvation.

So, I thought it was interesting that even asking a random person that they would rather know the important thing up front rather than waiting a couple years. A sample of one is certainly no statistical proof. More conversations are needed. Perhaps you can use this approach to witness to someone and then post your experience and their response to the initial question as a comment.

On Sunday night was the NBA All-Star game in Arlington. There were at least 11 of us on the streets by the Dallas Cowboys game witnessing before the game. The first thing I notice when going out to Arlington is the outrageous prices for parking. Near the stadium parking can cost $60. At a church a block from the stadium they were asking $40 to park. I pulled in and asked if they would give us a discount since we were there to evangelize. Two people declined to give us any discount. So we drove on down the street about another quarter mile and parked for half as much!

One of the first people I spoke too was a teen who was looking for tickets. He said he would pay up to $150 each. A short time later I talked with a couple who were considering selling their tickets for $900 each! The game drew an all time basketball record sized crowd of over 108,000!

We preached, handed out tracts, shared the Gospel one on one, and witnessed with signs for nearly four hours. It was a tremendous blessing to be on the streets with brothers and a sister in Christ. Our friends from Sports Fan Outreach were in town from Atlanta. So we had a nice preview of the logistics for next years Super Bowl. We were also blessed to have Manuel and his dad witnessing side by side!

Last weekend was NBA All-Star weekend. We joined up with some other evangelists from Sports Fan Outreach, Lost Cause Ministries an Jeremiah Cry. On Saturday night there were fourteen of us on the streets of Dallas near the American Airlines Center.

We decided to setup to preach and hand out tracts across the street from the southeast corner of the building at the intersection of Houston and Olive. I decided to ask the police where a good spot to preach would be. They said we could preach right there from the grass. Said we could even use the amplifier. Mike preached first. Then Keith. Then Tom and I took turns. Others in the group were handing out tracts.

After a little while a strange thing happened. We were approached by three people wearing city of Dallas uniform. They said they were with code of compliance and said we could not hand anythng out because it was a special event. I explained that we were on a public sidewalk and the police had given permission to be hear. Nonetheless, they threatened to issue a citation if we did not cease tract distribution. Interestingly they did not mind the open air preaching and while they talked to us we had the largest crowd who were all asking what was going on.

Btw – the next morning I emailed my attorney who assured me that we were well within our constitutional rights!

Today I had lunch with the pastor of First Baptist Church Hebron located in Carrollton, Tx. We discussed how we can partner together in reaching the city with the gospel. Th pastor explained that his churches vision is o reach each household in the zip code where their church is located, 75010. He believes this is about 10,000 households. They plan to reach about 2500 of them this year. Please keep this church in prayer as they set out on this vision the Lord has given them.

There are four other zip codes in Carrollton: 75006, 75007, 75008 and 75011. Please pray that the Lord will raise up leaders to take the Gospel to the rest of these zip codes.

Please pray for how you will be involved. Is the Lord leading you to take the Gospel door to door to each household on your block, in your neighborhood, in your zip code or in your city?  Don’t live in Carrollton? That’s okay! What’s not start in your own city. Please let me know how the Lord is leading you.

I took a number of pictures at the Super Bowl Outreach. Here are some of them. This first picture is the Super Bowl logo on display in Fort Lauderdale. All afternoon people would come to take their picture by this. I took some pictures of people and then handed them a tract and tried to converse with them when I gave them their camera back.

This next picture is of Deb with her cross. We got into a number of good conversations with people who simply walked up and said, “Ready for what?”

  

 

The next pictures are of various people in the crowd at the Super Bowl game on Sunday.

 

  

 

  

  

 

 

 

Today we headed out to the stadium where the super bowl will be played. We arrived at the stadium around noon. The area was already filling up with people. The 80 or so of split up into groups of 3-6 people. Each went to different areas around the stadium. Alex, Bobby and I headed to an area near the southeast corner of the stadium where a parking lot emptied to the street.

Bobby was carrying a wooden cross. Alex and I began handing out tracts. I started doing some stop light preaching where the police were directing traffic across the street. I had 60 seconds or so to get out the law and the gospel. We continued offering tracts.

Eventually Bill Adams joined us. He took his turn open air preaching and sharing scripture.

It seemed like people just kept coming and coming. At one point I heard someone ask of the parking lot would fill up and be closed. Of course the policeman had no idea. Meanwhile the stream of people started picking up more from the people one the sidewalk. As more people were coming up the sidewalk verses out of the parking lot, we decided to move to the other side of the parking lot entrance.

In this location we stood up on a slight embankment. From here, Bobby and I took turns reading scripture and preaching the gospel. I read 1 John and then later read the book of Galatians.

We were joined by a local group of evangelists. They helped hand out tracts and also preached with us.

At 5pm I meet up with three other guys going to Miami International airport and our driver from Faith Farms who dropped us at the airport.

I’ve witnessed at many NFL games in Dallas. But, I’ve never seen a crowd like this. So many people. And coming for so long. Six hours befor the game there were many people there. And they kept coming.

We handed out thousands of tracts, had one on one conversations, read the word and preached the gospel. God was glorified!

I’d like to thank Bill Adams for his faithfulness to organize these Super Bowl outreaches. This was the first one I went too. God willing, it won’t be the last.

I’d also like to thank Faith Farms for loaning the vans to our group. What a blessing they were.

Finally, many thanks to all the brothers and sisters in Christ that came down to Miami. It was great to fellowship with you. Those that spoke on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings, lead prayer and worship, etc your efforts are appreiated. I learned a lot. I look forward to keeping in touch with you and having fellowship again in the future.

Today we went to Fort Lauderdale. We handed out a lot of tracts, had many one on one conversations and preached in the open air. I’d like to share a few stories.

As we walked down the street handing out tracts, a tour bus was in the street. Now you have to understand that the street was really packed with cars so they were not going very fast. Cars were going so slow or stopped that I could walk up to the cars and hand the driver or passenger (depending which side of the street I was on since it was one way at this point). The tour bus was an amphebian type thing with an open top. The tour guide had a microphone and asked “any one on the sidewalk going to the game?” I responded, “anyone on the bus going to heaven?” I then proceeded to share the law and gospel “stop light preaching” style and got the whole message in before they drove off.

A short time later a lamborghini drove down the street. I handed the drive a tract.

Then as I was walking I came across a young man. I asked him if he had time for a question and he said yes. I ended up sharing the Law and Gospel with him. At the end I said, “you may have repented while we were talking.” He said he had! Praise God. He has no Bible. So I got his address and told him I’d mail him one when I got home. Please pray for Junior.

As the afternoon wore on we ended up speaking with more and more people who had had too much to drink. A couple of these drunk folks wanted to argue with us about their sin. We shared the truth with them.

Later in the evening I open air preached. Shared the Law and gospel. And ended with Psalm 51, the suggested reading for Project Ezra this weekend.

Deb brought her “are you ready” cross. I carried it to and from the beach. The cross is like a magnet to talk to people. “Ready for what?” they would say? We gave them “are you ready” tracts and what ever other tracts we gave them.

I even had a few minutes to wall on the beach.

A great day serving our great God!

Sometimes God has a verse in mind for you to study, meditate on and learn. The last couple of days that verse (or chapter) has been Psalm 51.

Yesterday I flew to Miami for the super bowl outreach. On the plane I was reading psalm 51 and taking notes on it. I decided to write a letter to a friend to share some thoughts.

Once at the camp last night, I was talking to a new friend. He mentioned a sermon he had heard on this text. And I wad able to share that I was just studying it. Then this morning at the camp, the speaker preached on Psalm 51!

God still was not done talking to me from this text. This afternoon we were on southbeach in Miami. I had been handing out tracts and having one on one conversations for hours. Then I felt called to preach. I decided to sit down and read scripture to pray an prepare to preach.

I received a text message. Before putting my phone away, I checked my email. There was a message from the Project Ezra blog with this weeks suggested reading. The suggested reading: Psalm 51. Okay Lord – I’ll use that text to preach.

I got up on the box. I shared the law and gospel. Then I explained that once you repent you could make a prayer like King David did. Then I read Psalm 51.

After dinner I preached again and read the Psalm again.

Our first day of the super bowl outreach has been great. Thousands of tracts have een distributed. The law and gospel was clearly communicated on the beach today with at least 8 hours of preaching.

In the Bezeugen Blast, I often refer to witnessing in malls and having great conversations with people. Recently, I was asked, “how do you do it?” Their comment was basically related to their experience that if they go to the mall and hand out tracts that Security Officers will stop them and ask them to leave. On the Bezeugen Web Site, we offer a brief summary of how we witness in malls. Given the question I was asked, I thought it wise to devote a blog entry to this subject and then share it in the Bezeugen Blast.

Ten Commandment Coin
When Craig and I first started witnessing, we started in the malls. We were taught to take a Ten Commandment coin and hand it to someone and say, “did you get one of these?” This was a great way to start a conversation because people would naturally ask, “what is it?” We could explain it was a coin with the Ten Commandments on it and that lead directly to talking about the Law and the Gospel.

The Problem

The problem that arose was that by walking around the mall handing out these coins (or any other tract for that matter) it is technically against the policy of most malls. If you will look carefully by one of the doors, there is normally a sign that says it is against the mall policy to “distribute material.” Therefore if you are caught simply handing out the tracts and coins, then the mall security may ask you to leave. Now if you live someplace like Dallas where there are malls all over the place, then it is not so big of a deal. You simply go to a different mall for awhile.

The Solution
The solution is to engage people in conversation without first handing them a coin or a tract. Sounds difficult. But, you can do it. Here are a couple of ways to do it.

First, you can easily strike up conversations with people that work in the mall especially at the kiosks. Most of the kiosk employees will actually stop you. Show interest in their products and in them. If it is near a holiday or birthday ask them if the item would make a good gift. As you are talking, flip the conversation to the spiritual. Ask, “can I ask you an interesting question?” and then follow up with, “what do you think happens when you die?” If it is near Christmas, you can use that as a segway by asking, “Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, why? If not, why not?” Or ask, “why do you think Christians celebrate Christmas?” Please be cognizant of the employees time. Don’t distract them from other customers and even point out to them if another customer comes.

Second, notice people! Recently I saw a guy who was wearing a t-shirt with wings on the back. I went up to him and said, “I must ask, why the wings on your shirt?” He said, “I can fly!” Of course, I then replied, “prove it.” As he went over towards the railing, I told him that it was ok. That started a conversation that lead to sharing the Gospel with him.

Third, give tracts to cashiers! When you buy something, give a tract to the cashier. A million dollar bill makes a nice addition to a tip. At one mall in Dallas, we eat at the same restaurant nearly every week. The cashier has a complete collection of each one of our tracts. When we pay, I’ll say, “have you gotten this one yet?” She’ll take each one. We’ve shared the Gospel with her and the other employees at the restaurant, but they have not come to salvation yet.

Fourth, be discrete. As you go around the mall, you may want to be discrete in your conversations. It’s probably best not to strike up a conversation right in front of a security guard or block an entire walkway in the mall. Tom Price shared this story with me:

I was from the beginning concerned that we couldn’t pass out tracts at the mall, so I started by being as discreet as possible, keeping one eye out for security. Things were going fine until an old acquaintance came out of one of the big stores and spotted me. She is one of those bubbly, loud, outgoing types. When she asked me what I was doing, I told her I was giving out some gospel tracts. She asked to see one. She no sooner had it in her hand then she turned around and yelled out across 40 feet of empty space to someone, “Hey, did you get one of these?”

If you need tracts to hand out, then please enroll in the Bezeugen Tract Club.

Be a Mall Patron
Normally when we witness in the mall we eat lunch there first. After lunch, get a refill in your cup and carry your cup with you. This way you are a patron of the mall and not just hanging out or loitering.

Dealing with Security
Sometimes people will complain to security if they feel like you have bothered or offended them. If the security asks you to leave, ask what law you have broken. If there is one, then comply. Usually they will just say something like, “we don’t like people bothering our customers.”

Tom Price from Fayetville, NC told me about this encounter with mall security.

One time, I had a security guard “discreetly” follow me for about 30 minutes just waiting for me to hand something to someone. I was finally on my way out, and thinking he’d gotten tired of following me, gave out one of my last tracts. Man, he pounced on me immediately and told me I couldn’t do that. I asked him if he had something in writing and he got belligerent saying, “I’m telling you and that’s all you need to know.” I politely told him I respected his authority, but still would like to have a copy of the official mall policy. He ran over to a kiosk, grabbed a brochure explaining mall policies, and offered it to me. I took it and thanked him. As he was turning to leave, I said, “Thanks a million for letting me know,” and gave him a MDB. He froze for just an instant, and then kept it as I walked out.

Open Air at the Mall
Here is another idea for you. Witness to someone on the phone and talk real loud so others can hear you. We’ve thought of doing this with two of us in the mall at the same time in different areas. Or you could be in one mall and me in another. Hey, we should do that!! This idea comes from Ambassadors Academy. And I’ve done it a couple of times. One time I had arrived back at DFW around midnight. One of the academy alums was on facebook. So I called him and shared with him all my encounters witnessing in Times Square that week. Everyone around me heard the law and gospel. And since all I was doing is talking on my phone there is nothing anyone could do. This was actually at the airport, but the same thing would work at the mall. Two of us could go to two different malls and take turns witnessing to each other over the phone. This way the Gospel could actually be shared in two malls at the same time. If you want to do this with me sometime drop me a line and we will set up a time to do it.

What’s your Experience
I’d love to hear your experiences witnessing in the mall. Please post a comment and let me know your experiences: good and bad! Thanks!

On Saturday, six of us hit the streets of Dallas to witness at the Harlem Globetrotters shows at the American Airlines Center. There were two performances. We decided to witness between the two shows so that we could talk to the people leaving the first show and those going to the second show.

We arrived at the arena about half an hour before the first show ended. We had some one on one conversations with employees that were on “smoke break” and enjoyed some fellowship with each other. Eventually the first show ended and people began leaving the stadium in groves. With six people we were able to effectively cover both the North east and the North west corners of the building and hand out tracts to people as they went to their cars.

After a little while, two of our team members decided to leave due to the extreme cold. It was only about 27 degrees that day in Dallas.

With the second show starting at 2:30 and the doors not opening until 1:30, there were queues of people lining up by all of the doors. We decided to open air preach to the crowds waiting outside of the building. I went first. I preached the Law and the Gospel. I asked people to consider the Million Dollar Question, “where will you spend eterntity” while I pointed out that “my friends” were handing them Million Dollar Bills.

After preaching through the Law and Gospel twice, I handed the AMP off to Tom. Tom preached a good long time too. We all had a number of one on one conversations with people. In all we handed out over 1500 Gospel tracts.

Near the end of the day the security guards from the arena said we had to go because “people were saying they were offended.” We went home rejoicing that we had preached the Gospel clearly enough for people to be offended by the message!