Evangelism Update December 19, 2009
Evangelism Memory Verse:
“I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”
–Revelation 1:8
Evangelism Quote:
“We are sure that only those who are ordained to eternal life will believe, and that God alone can add to the church such as shall be saved. Nevertheless we cannot but observe with admiration that Paul, the great champion for the glorious doctrines of free and sovereign grace, was the most conspicuous for his personal zeal in the work of persuading men to be reconciled to God.”
–William Carey (sometimes called “The Father of Modern Missions”)
Note: We must agree with Carey. In fact, if we agree with the first part of his statement regarding his theology and fail to imitate his example of following Paul (as Paul followed Christ), then we miss an essential element of New Testament Christianity. May the Lord help us to have the theology of the Apostle Paul while having his passion for the gospel.
We can find many who have one or the other, but it is rare to find a man or woman who has both.
Regular, Weekly Outreaches:
1. Truck Stop on I-35 W, north of Fort Worth: Thursdays, from 7-9PM. Truck to truck witnessing. Contact: Ron Martinez (ron@lostcauseministries.com).
2. Day Laborer Camp (Mckinney): Saturdays from 7-8AM. Witnessing to the Hispanic community. Spanish tracts and one-to-ones. Contact: Byron Porter (byron@lostcauseministries.com).
3. Skate Park (Allen): Saturdays from 10-11PM. One-to-ones with skaters. Contact: Byron Porter (byron@lostcauseministries.com).
Special Outreaches:
1. Sunday, December 20th, 3:00-5:00PM: FBC Briar will be doing a Christmas caroling outreach at the Walmart in Azle. 500 Christmas gifts will be given to customers while the members sing. We have permission from the management to be there and they are supplying us with electricity for an amplifier and a keyboard. The gifts will contain a booklet from John Piper, a gospel tract, candy, and an audio CD of Pastor Randall preaching the gospel. In between songs, Pastor Randall Easter and Jon Speed will give short open-air sermons springboarding from the songs.
Pastor Randall has asked me to invite you all to come out and join in this outreach. As you know, a crowd always draws a crowd. Perhaps this outreach will provide the spark for you to do something similar with your own church next year.
If you are coming, please let me know at jon@lostcauseministries.com.
2. Thursday, December 31st, 9:00PM–?? TLC Ministries will take the Gospel to the Big D NYE event in
3. Cotton Bowl Classic Outreach: Saturday, January 2nd, 2010, 10AM-1PM. The Cotton Bowl comes to the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX. Ole Miss vs. OSU. The carpool will leave FBC Justin at 9:15AM. Once we are parked, we will set up an open-air preaching station across from the Walmart. We will pass out tracts, open-air preach and do one-to-ones. If you want to carpool, please contact me at jon@lostcauseministries.com.
Evangelism Report:
Last Friday night, TLC Staff was joined by Tom Sadowski and Tim Crawford’s sons, Tristen and Brandon. We met Ted Winton, Ron, and some other believers out on the streets in Sundance Square and had a good night sharing the gospel with the lost. I was especially blessed as Brandon and Tristen took turns quoting Scriptures into the amplifier in between open-air preaching. That might seem like a simple thing, but it’s a huge step for a couple of eight and nine year olds.
We had a couple of hecklers. I was heckled by a drunk guy coming out of a bar. When he saw Brandon standing next to me, he assumed he was my son, and told Brandon not to be brainwashed. We hear this from time to time when we bring our kids with us out on the streets. Anyone who is bold (or crazy) enough to open-air preach must be in some kind of cult, because after all, only people in fringe cults go out and preach the gospel (which is a commentary in and of itself on the “Christianity”, so-called, in the Bible belt).
A few observations I have used in the past that have helped defray this lame argument:
1. “Where are your kids? Don’t you want to bring them with you when you get drunk? No? Which is worse; letting a kid see his dad preach the Word of God or seeing him stumble through the door wretching his guts out?” This would be the subtle approach. Have your running shoes on and tied tight if you want to try this one.
2. “My daughter is obeying the fifth commandment: Honor your father and your mother. She is honoring me right now by telling people about the gospel. She is honoring God by obeying His commandment to evangelize. How about you? Are you honoring or dishonoring your parents right now?” This would be the guilt trip approach and is pretty effective.
3. “God has established the authority of parents over their children. When you disobey your parents, you disobey the authority God has established in your life and you are rebelling against Him. When you disobey the government, you do the same thing (Rom. 13). Repent of your rebellion and come to Christ.” This just shuts them up because they’re usually too drunk to follow the argument.
Tom had a heckler who was a bit unusual. At the risk of sounding completely non-P.C., I will describe him as an angry midget. I guess the P.C. term these days is “a little person”. In other words, he was inordinately short. He came back a couple of times, paced around and yelled at Tom, “That’s not the gospel. I know because I’m a Pentecostal and that is not the gospel.” You never have a video camera around when you really want one. It was one of those surreal moments in open-air preaching that I wish I could have recorded for posterity.
Believe it or not, we have fun when we go out because you just never know what is going to happen. Most of the time, God shows up and does amazing things. Sometimes people show up and do stupid things. Merry Christmas to us.
Evangelism Resources:
1. Here’s a good Christmas tip from our friend, Trish Ramos, of Fish with Trish. If you have people at your church that don’t feel equipped to witness, but they can sing, recruit them for some door-to-door Christmas caroling and hand out some Christmas gifts as you go. Check out the video here.
2. You can get a FREE copy of Richard Wurmbrand’s book, “Tortured for Christ” at ChristianJobs.com. Details are here.
3. This is an interesting video clip of our outreach at UT Austin when we did the “Origin into Schools” outreach last month. At the 2:18 mark, you can see some open-air preaching we did afterward, complete with atheistic, evolutionist hecklers. Watch as the attitude of the Jewish student changes from animosity to respect. Thanks to Betty Taylor for sending along this footage.
Road Trip:
It’s officially time to start registering for this year’s Super Bowl Outreach in sunny Miami, FL! This year, the NFL is combining the big game with the Pro Bowl. Both will be held the same week in the same venue, making the Super Bowl an even bigger event for Biblical evangelism! So, at this year’s outreach you have an option. You can come for just the Super Bowl during the last half of the week (Feb. 4-7) or you can come for the whole week and hit both games (Jan. 29-Feb. 7). The “short camp” will be $199. The “long camp” will be $399. Accommodations will be at the Gold Coast Christian Camp. To pre-register, a 25% down payment is required to hold your spot.
The TLC team is planning on going for just the Super Bowl outreach itself. To sign up for the carpool, email jon@lostcauseministries.com.
Psalm 119 Conference
Wretched Radio is doing an important conference right here in Keller, TX May 14-15! The Psalm 119 Conference will feature Phil Johnson, Todd Friel, Dr. Peter Hammond, Justin Peters, Paul Taylor (Answers in Genesis), and Emilio and Trish Ramos. The early bird registration is $69.00 and the student price is $49.00. There is a 10% discount for Wretched Club members.
TLC Ministries has been asked to help coordinate an evangelistic outreach immediately after the event on Saturday (similar to The Five Hundred event after Deeper). Please keep this in prayer as we make plans to mobilize hundreds of believers to take the gospel across the Dallas\Fort Worth area.
Prayer Requests:
It’s official: our big pay cut has hit our paychecks effective this week. We’re committed to keeping this ministry going no matter what comes, but if we do not receive the donations we need, it will be difficult to continue doing ministry on the same scale we’ve been able to the last two years. These are just the facts.
We have a lot planned for 2010: coordinating outreaches for the Super Bowl, the Psalm 119 Conference, Deeper Conference, another Texas Revival Series Meeting, assisting Ambassador’s Academy with team leadership, festival booths, NASCAR ministry, parades, college campus ministry across TX and OK, event evangelism, and our regular weekly outreaches. Hundreds of believers will be mobilized, many others trained, and thousands will hear the gospel.
Jon is also currently working on two new books. The working titles right now are: “Taming the Lion: How to Manage Your Fear” and “Confessions of a False Prophet”. A study guide for group discussion is also planned for “Evangelism in the New Testament.” He is also continuing to edit and write tracts for One Million Tracts. Through this writing ministry alone, thousands will either get the gospel or be trained to share it.
At the same time, we face the reality that we must provide for our families. Currently, neither the Crawford nor the Speed families have any debt outside of our mortgage payments. Our salaries are being cut down to $30,000 a year. Originally, we were getting $60,000 a year, but that amount was cut in July to $50,000 a year. We can live on $50,000 a year in the Dallas\Fort Worth area and do the ministry we need to do.
We know that there are a lot of viable ministries out there. An elder at a local church recently said to us, “You guys do more evangelism than all of the missionaries our church supports put together.” We see that as a sad state of affairs, but we’re privileged to have this ministry from the Lord. It is an evidence of His grace.
We’re not ones for mincing words. We’ll make it simple and straightforward. We need your help. Preferably on a monthly basis, but every donation is welcome.
You can donate to the ministry using PayPal or by mailing a check to us at:
The Lost Cause Ministries P.O. Box 1125 Justin, TX 76247
This ministry will continue no matter what. The only question is, on what scale? The Lord knows and we are content to trust Him.
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