Update 3.24.2012

We are praising the Lord for another beautiful weekend to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people on the streets of Hartford.  If anyone says the Christian life is boring, they aren't doing much for the Lord.  Participating in public ministry has been one of the most interesting, exciting things I have done in my entire life; and it has eternal value to it!

Five of us went out to preach, hand out gospel tracts and deal with people one-on-one.  We were able to talk to several people again, and had several Christians encourage us in the work.

There are just a couple events I would like to share from today's excursion.

I didn't have access to my digital camera today, but as I was walking out the door this morning, the Lord impressed upon me to grab the video camera.  Because I was so impressed to do so, I made a point of trying to get some interviews with people in order to video some of the one-on-one interactions that we have with people.  Unfortunately, it seemed everyone had some place to be shortly, or were camera-shy.  No one wanted to submit to the interview.  It still allowed us to talk to some folks off-camera though.  I was kind of wondering why the Lord had impressed me to bring the video camera.  It wasn't until the very moment we were about to close up shop that a man came over yelling at our banner saying, "If you mean to tell me that Jesus Christ's purpose in coming to earth was only to die, then you are a FOOL!"  I approached the man, and calmly asked him, "Why do you say that?"  What ensued was a 15 minute conversation that Harry was able to capture on video!  Since I believe that that was the Lord's purpose in bringing the video camera, I will be posting that at the bottom of the blog shortly!

Earlier, while we were preaching, we had Hartford's finest pay us a visit.  They pulled a police cruiser right in front of where we were preaching, and one of the officers stepped out and wanted to talk with whoever was in charge.  The preaching continued during the whole exchange with the officer, and the other officer in the car rolled her window down and was listening to the message the whole time!
It turns out that they DID have a complaint, but they were quite amiable with us, telling us that there was no problem with what we were doing.  The officer usually worked the midnight shift, and since he was working during the day today, he just wanted to see who we were and what we were doing.  Thank God for the good rapport he has given us with the law enforcement here!

Just minutes after that encounter, a little, elderly lady came by and talked to Dave, then made her way down to me.  She said, in her broken English, "You ought to thank God for the privelege it is to do this freely."  I told her I did, and that's exactly why we take advantage of that opportunity.  She then told us that just two weeks ago a Pastor had been killed in her home country of Columbia.  She admonished us again to thank God for the freedom we have to spread the gospel.  We DO thank God that we can freely preach on the streets, unharrassed by the authorities, and, in fact, are often encouraged by them!  American Christians:  WAKE UP!  You may not have that freedom much longer unless we humble ourselves, and pray, and seek God's face, and turn from our wicked ways...