A Conversation With Mike, Jason, and a Few Other Happenings

I joined my pastor at 1:00 at Lakewood Park as he open aired. I did not get on the box today, but while my pastor was open airing, a man came up and asked what was going on. I told him Pastor Paul was open airing and I gave him a gospel tract.



At 2:00, I was in front of Madison Park in Lakewood near the intersection of Grace and Madison. Vehicle traffic was light, but pedestrian traffic on the sidewalk was moderate. At one point, a young man rode by on his bike, looking at my cross. After he passed by, he turned around and came back and asked what my sign meant. I told him, "Scripture says, 'It is appointed for a man once to die, and then comes judgment' (Hebrews 9:27). Do you know how you are going to be judged by God?" He replied, "No." It didn't seem like he wanted to get involved in a discussion, so I gave him a tract and told him to read it when he got home.

At another point, a lady walked by and asked me, "Have you said your prayers today?" She then asked if I prayed the rosary. I said, "Absolutely not!" She told me I should pray to Mary.

A little later, Mike walked by and engaged me in a discussion. He told me he was wondering about this. He said he had heard things about 2012 coming up. December 21, 2012 is when the Mayan calendar ends. I told Mike that Jesus said that not even He knew when the end would be- only the Father knows. I told him that if Jesus doesn't know, there is no way infallible man can possibly know. I told Mike that we are in the end times, it is just a matter of when and "are you ready?"

Our conversation was taking all sorts of different paths. Mike had researched several religions and told me that all the different religions were all praying to the same higher human consciousness. He was talking about how religion and science kind of parallel each other. I let Mike talk about these things, but I kept bringing it back to the Gospel.

I explained imputed righteousness to him and why Christianity is the only religion that makes sense. It is the only one that provides for a complete removal of your sins through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Mike said that Christianity decided they "weren't going to do sacrifices anymore. We're not doing that anymore." I explained to Mike how in the Old Testament, the sacrifices were a way to cover sins, but that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Jesus provides for a completely removal of sins, not just a covering of sins. Jesus was the final sacrifice for all.

Mike and I talked about a few other things, but before he left, I asked him to remember this: it doesn't matter what we think is true, it is what is true.

As the second hour was wrapping up, Jason and Emanuel passed by. Emanuel had already been taken through the law and the gospel before by either me or John (an elder from church), but Jason had not. Jason told me he was Russian Orthodox. He said he didn't actually go to church, though, and had never been to his church. Brushing that off, I quoted Hebrews 9:27 and asked him if was ready to be judged by God. He said, "Not really."

I asked Jason if he would consider himself to be a good person. Jason thought he was, but Emanuel was quick to say, "Jason is not a very good person at all!" Emanuel had already been through the Good Person Test so he knew the outcome!

I took Jason through the law and gospel. I explained the parachute analogy and the necessity of repentance and being reborn. The parachute analogy is this: being on an airplane that is about to crash and having a parachute that can save you. Merely "believing" in the parachute won't save you- you have to strap on the parachute and jump from the plane. In the same sense, we need to strap on the Lord Jesus and jump from our sinful lifestyle. I gave Jason a gospel tract and told him to read it over, as it went over what we talked about. Emanuel already had a big money tract at home.

I handed out between 15 and 20 tracts today, including the one at the park to the man who came to see Pastor Paul open airing.

Tomorrow is the Komen Race for the Cure and I will be there with my cross. Over 20,000 people are expected to participate. Check back later tomorrow for details.

Open Air and Tracting in Lakewood

I joined my pastor and John (holding my cross), an elder from church, for open air at Lakewood Park for open air. Please excuse the poor visual quality- it is taken from a frame of the video. After my pastor read from Scripture and went through the Law and Gospel, I read "Are You Really a Christian?" that I wrote for our church website. After this, John and I went to the sidewalk in front of Madison Park to distribute tracts.



I love handing out tracts with John. He has so much energy and a great desire to reach the lost.

Today was the first day I was recording with my digital audio recorder. I bought a cheap one on eBay just to have as a precaution in case there is ever a dispute of what was said on the street.

As I was putting my camera back in the car, John starting having a conversation with a man named Steve. John invited me over and I asked Steve if he would consider himself to be a good person. He said, "Yes, sir," at which point I asked him if I could ask him a few questions to see if that was true.

I asked him if he had ever told a lie. He said no. After some prodding, he admitted to telling maybe a white lie. John asked him what that makes him, and he said, "Bad." John asked him what he would call John had told him a lie. "It starts with L." The man says "sinner." John replies, "An L!" (exclamation on the L). He finally says liar.

I ask Steve if he has ever stolen anything. He says no and continues to explain how he was wrongly accused of stealing something by someone. I move on.

Have you ever used the Lord's name in vain? "No. Never."
Have you ever disobeyed your parents? "No. My parents would have would have beat my butt!"

John asked him if he has ever lusted- he finally says, "Heck, yea." John explains this is adultery in the heart.

John told him he has broken some of the commandments of God. John asks him, on the Day of Judgment, if he would be innocent or guilty before God. Steve says innocent. John asks him, "Why's that?" Steve said "Because, I'm a good person."

John tells him that he has now broken the second commandment- creating a god to his own image. John gives him the analogy of being in a court room and having broken six laws, what is Steve going to say. He says, "That I'm a good person."

John told him that a good judge will make him pay the penalty for his guilt, at which point Steve says he has to go.

Next was Carl. Carl told us he had recently been in jail and was out of work. John tried giving him some advice on where to find work. When John brought up the topic of Jesus Christ, Carl appeared to want to have nothing to do with it. When John offered to pray for him, though, he quickly folded his hands and John prayed for him.

John left me around 1:35, and I stayed at this location with my cross for about another two hours. A little while later, a young man rode past me on his bike and asked me what the cross meant. I motioned to him to come back. He stopped his bike, turned around, and came back. I took him through the law and he admitted he was guilty and he was headed for hell. I asked him if that concerned him, and he said it did. I asked him if he knew what God had done for him so he wouldn't have to go to hell. He said he did not.

I explained the gospel and the meaning of the cross and gave him a gospel tract. I was able to tie in how the church across the street had the name "Grace" incorporated into it. He said he had been to a Catholic church when he was younger when I asked him about a Christian background. I told him to read over the gospel tract, as it goes over what we talked about.

Another man who I gave a gospel tract to asked me if what I had given him was Christian or Jehovah's Witness. I assured him it was Christian. School has just started and I my cross was clearly visible to a lot of students walking home. John handed out about 15 tracts and I handed out about 25 tracts today.

My pastor is heading up an Evangelism Boot Camp (at which John is speaking) this weekend and we should have the audio available on the church website soon after it is finished.

Open Air at Lakewood Park - 8/12/08

Yesterday was another quiet day with the cross- no stories to share. Today, my pastor told me he was going to Lakewood Park at 1:00 to open air, so I showed up at noon to set up my cross tied to a tripod. I didn't get much reading done, but some hopefully some new people got to see the cross. One man drove by and gave me either a thumbs up or a wave. It has been a real blessing to receive those. I haven't had any hecklers yet. A man was looking at my cross and asked me what this was about, and I stumbled a bit as to what to say and asked him if he had a religious background to which he walked away.

Around 1:00 PM, my pastor arrived and shortly thereafter another two people from church came to offer their support. I spoke after my pastor with this, that I wrote this morning:

"We need to place our trust in Jesus, but this is not the kind of trust you have in your local police department. I live in a very safe area. How often do I need to call up the police? Rarely, if ever. In fact, most of us look at the police as the enemy when we are driving. The first thing most of us do when we see a police car is brake because we are breaking the law by speeding. Is this how you treat Jesus? You are constantly in rebellion and hide from Him whenever you see His face? Do you only call upon Him when you need something? We need to have a deeper trust in Jesus. We need to depend on Him for everything, not just when something goes wrong in our lives. This is what it means to surrender your life to Jesus."

After that, Beth from church got on the box and open aired. It has been relatively slow at Lakewood Park, but we know the gospel is still being heard.

Day 2 Alone With the Cross

Yesterday I joined my pastor at Lakewood Park for open air preaching. After he had read Scripture and preached, I read Matthew 5. After that, I headed to Cahoon Memorial Park in Bay Village.




Yesterday was my second day alone with my cross. Previously, my pastor and I had stood once on two separate street corners with it, the second time he had his own with him. I went to Cahoon Memorial Park in Bay Village around noon and stayed for about an hour. Thursday was my first day alone with it at the same park, and it was a quiet first day. The cross is just over 4 feet tall and about 2 feet wide, with about 7 inch lettering on it.

Yesterday, a younger lady asked me about my cross. She proceeded to tell me that she attended a Catholic church, and I asked if she thought she was going to heaven. I asked her if she had kept the ten commandments, and she said she tried to. I tried to go into the law with her, and she quickly told me she goes to confession. I tried telling her confession was merely admission of guilt, but she clearly did not want to talk about her beliefs. She did mention repenting to me, but she told me she also believed in the Saints. I tried to give her a gospel tract but she wouldn't take it. I hope to see her again sometime and hope we will be able to talk again.

Another man walked by me and asked, "For Santa or the Easter Bunny?" His remark was in reference to the question displayed on my cross, "ARE YOU READY?" I quickly said "Christ!" but he just kept on walking.

I noticed someone riding a bicycle yelling as he rode past me (across the street from the park), but I wasn't sure if it was directed at me. A few moments later he was yelling again, but I paid no attention to him. About 30 seconds to a minute later, the car alarm on my car started to go off (it is the factory installed alarm on my car- it's not something I put in myself). I had to walk back to my car to turn off the alarm. I do not know if the two events are related, but it just seemed like quite a coincidence. I had a smaller cross visible in the front seat of my car that I try to display while driving, so I'm not sure if that someone saw the cross and tried to tamper with my car.

I did get two passing honks in support of what I was doing, one from a city garbage truck driver. I noticed two police cars drive by the park while I was there, so hopefully that means the police will not disturb me. I hope to start reading from the Bible at this park soon, which will hopefully lead into street light preaching at other intersections.

I had wanted to go out alone with my cross, but I couldn't find the courage to do it. I finally just made myself go out on Thursday and it was quite uneventful and boring. I found myself wanting to have witnessing conversations, but no one commented on my cross. Yesterday, I had a brief conversation, the quick remark about Santa or the Easter Bunny, and my car alarm going off.

This was only the second day I went out alone, but the parable of the tenants came to my mind: "For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." The first day had no interactions, but the second day did. I think the Lord just wanted to see if I would be faithful and continue, and then He will give me more. I pray God will allow me to have more interactions as I continue.