Category: Witnessing Stories

Witnessing Stories

Blessed

20140628_082243_27136 This morning we had a wonderful time sharing the gospel at the Freedom Festival parade here in Cedar Rapids. We had a team of twenty-three (pictured above)! We’re very happy about some new friends who’ve joined the team!

20140628_083404_27146 We divided into small groups to pray

20140628_084322_27151 Because of all the action going on downtown, there were plenty of people to talk to!

20140628_102952_27155 After about an hour and a half, we came back to share how things went. Here Rose is sharing about a really encouraging conversation she had.

20140628_103132_27158 There were several such stories and it was an energizing time of hearing how the Lord worked.

I wish I could remember more details from the stories shared. Many people were very open, receptive, and grateful for the conversations we had with them.

After I discussed the problem of our sin with with three high school kids, I asked something like, “So what’s the answer to have peace with God?”
“Well, you have to get saved,” one girl responded.
“Who saves you?” I asked.
“The preacher, right?” she said. “Don’t you get baptized or something?”
“No…” I began
“Don’t you kind of have to save yourself?” another kid asked.
“No….” I continued to explain about God’s justice and the message of the cross.
“This has been really interesting,” one of the boys told me after we’d been talking for a while. Praise God for their attentiveness and receptiveness!

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More fellowship at Chick fil A. We’re so blessed to have brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we can “stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27).

Thoughts/Witnessing Stories

How to Get Witnessing Conversations Started on the 4th

The fourth of July is an amazing time to share the gospel with people. They just set up their lawn chairs and blankets and then hangout until the fireworks start. It’s one time in the year when people aren’t busy. But isn’t it weird and awkward to start a conversation about spiritual things with a stranger? No, it actually doesn’t have to be at all! The key is to find a good approach and then just going out and practice!

Click here for some questionnaire ideas. Click here for the Price of Liberty tract that you can print for yourself. Click here to see Living Waters’ Fourth of July Million Dollar Bills. (There’s still time to order them for the fourth if you do it right away!)

Let’s pray for fruitful evangelism all over the country on the fourth of July! The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Remember, this is one thing that Jesus specifically told us to pray for.

Click here to see what the team of Bright Lights leaders did in Houston last year, and how we used the 4th of July Millions as conversation starters.

Miscellaneous/Witnessing Conferences/Witnessing Stories

Witnessing Conference Report

20140607_120457_27036 Last weekend my dad and I ran our first-ever witnessing workshop in the St Paul, MN area. We were very encouraged by how things went. Here was our approximate schedule:

9:00 “God’s Gift to Believers (Ephesians 3:8)”
10:15 Coffee Break
10:30 “Boldness”
11:45 Lunch
12:45 “Hard Questions and Answers”
1:45 Break
2:00 “Plan and Press On”
3:15 Leave for witnessing
5:30 Pizza and Sharing

The Lord brought a great group of serious-minded believers with a heart to grow in the area of witnessing. The only sad part was how fast the time went. I felt like we just were getting acquainted with everyone, and then everyone had to leave. I’m sure we could have had many more hours of great fellowship and learning from each other. [smile]

It was a pretty busy week of preparation for us, but I feel that the Lord answered prayer in helping my dad and I organize the content of the sessions. Basically, my dad did the teaching, and I supplemented it with stories and practical ideas.

One theme we wanted to thread through the conference was the greatness of God. When we are reminded of the Lord’s character and mighty power, we become excited about the privilege of working with Him and being His representatives. As Hebrews 11 reminds us, the Lord wants servants with great faith–servants who see their Lord as awesome in power and trust HIM as their only source of success.

Not only does speaking of the greatness of God strengthen believers, it convicts unbelievers. It is when we speak of God’s greatness and holiness that unbelievers begin to understand their sin and great need for a Savior. Many don’t see themselves as bad as they really are because they don’t see God as good as He really is.

With these thoughts in mind, I especially appreciated the banner hanging on the wall (in above picture)!

I also appreciated the verse Sarah sent me on a little note as I was leaving (not knowing quite how fitting it would be):

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. (Psalm 145:3-6)

…as well as the verse Nickie texted me:

“My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and of Your salvation all day long; For I do not know the sum of them (Psalm 71:15).”

20140607_112118_27024 Fellowship over lunch. We were very grateful for the initiative and vision of Pastor Mike Lerud and Redeemer Baptist Church, who asked us to come (and also provided, snacks, lunch and dinner for everyone)!

20140607_155213_27045 About forty of us went out witnessing from 3:30-5:00 pm. The girl on left had never done this kind of witnessing before, but when we bumped into her, she had her own little questionnaire sheet all marked up and told us about the six conversations she had just had! Praise the Lord!!

20140607_170045_27050 We heard some encouraging stories over pizza afterwards. Here are two of them:

Karen shared about a truck-driver they had spoken with. The truck driver expressed how amazed he was that they were talking with him. He said, “I’m not even from here, I just stopped in to sit down for a little while.” He continued, “I was just looking through ebay on my phone and then something about the Bible popped up…. and then you guys come and start talking to me about God’s salvation!” Praise the Lord for how He arranged circumstances to give this man a receptive heart to the gospel message!

Kelly spoke with a lady who was hurting in many areas of life. After she explained the gospel, the lady said, “I was just praying and crying out to God to help me!” The lady saw this conversation as an answer to her prayers!

Here is a little taste of Karen and Kelley’s stories:

20140607_180424_27061 This family works with native Americans in Canada, and it was encouraging to hear about how the Lord is using them there. The father shared with me about the darkness and great need in his community, but he also explained about the exciting open doors the Lord has given him. He said that men invite him into their homes and say, “Come teach the Bible to us!”

Thank you very much to everyone who prayed for our conference last weekend. I believe the Lord answered those prayers! Let’s continue to pray that the Lord works in a mighty way in our land, raising up laborers to the harvest.

“…therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest (Matthew 9:38).”

Witnessing Stories

When We See Other “Links in the Chain”

20140416_165552_26435 Yesterday we went witnessing at the University of Iowa. Here’s our group meeting up afterward to discuss how the conversations went.

20140416_162615_26434 Luke witnessing

One guy asked Luke, “Are you the one who gave me the million dollar bill?” He said he remembered talking with him before. We told him it wasn’t an accident that we bumped into him again! (Note: there are 30,000 students at the University of Iowa, so it’s not that likely to run into the same ones again!)

I met two girls from Malaysia. They thought it was neat that I had been to their country four times, and we instantly became “friends.” After I shared about the significance of this weekend (celebrating the resurrection), I asked them, “So what do you guys think is the way to have peace with God?”
“By reading the Book,” they replied.
“The Quran?” I asked.
“Yeah and the Book, your Book, the Bible—the Quran tells us to read that.”
“So have you read the Bible?” I asked.
“Yes, some,” they replied.
“With Christians or Muslims?” I asked.
“Both—we’ve gotten together with Christians to read the Bible and talk about it.”
“Wow, that’s great!” I told them, “Maybe you could come to my house!”
They were warm towards that idea; hopefully the Lord will work it out.

On the way home, I told this story to those in the van. This caused us to begin discussing various international friends that we have been trying to arrange to have over for dinner. I mentioned the name of a student who was a friend of my dad’s who we’ve been wanting to have over. When our friend Eric heard me mention that name, he exclaimed, “He’s the guy I’ve been witnessing to that I was telling you about!”

After comparing a couple details, we became confident that we were talking about the same guy. Eric, who attends the same university, explained about the good conversations he had with this guy! He has even had him over for dinner. We told Eric how my dad had become friends with this student as well and has met with him for coffee and brought him to our church. Neither knew the other one was witnessing to him, but both Eric and my dad were very encouraged to learn this. Praise the Lord!

Often we forget that we are usually just “one link” in a chain of people that God is using to bring someone to Christ. But *sometimes* the Lord lets us see another link in the chain. [smile] It’s so encouraging to be reminded that He is powerfully carrying out His plans–and He is intimately involved in all the little details.

Here’s another recent example: About a month ago, an out-of-state friend shared with me some video footage and pictures from an evangelistic outreach at a university in his area. One of the video clips was of him witnessing to a student from a country closed to the gospel. As I was watching the video and heard the student say what country he was from, I realized, I think I might know that guy!!

You see, last summer when we were traveling in that state, my dad and I were able to witness to a guy from that country who told us where he was going to school (the same university where my friend was doing the evangelistic outreach). We established a friendship with him and even got a picture together. We pulled up the picture, and to us he looks the same as the guy in the video our friend sent us. Same guy? We think so. If not, at least they know each other because they are from the same country studying at the same university.

This was a reminder to us to pray. The odds of our friend witnessing to the same guy we had witnessed to (in another state!) are not high. And the odds of us finding out about it are definitely not high! This was the first time we’d received a video from our friend of a witnessing conversation, and who was he witnessing to? Someone we think we already know?! Only God can write stories like these. 🙂

“Come and see the works of God, who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men… He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations … Bless our God, O peoples, And sound His praise abroad” (Psalm 66:5-8).

Witnessing Stories

A Challenging Conversation

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Yesterday at the park a young mom told me her spiritual beliefs. Her friend laughed as she described her “religion.” Her “belief” was a blasphemous reaction to creation to mock Christianity.

This is going to be an interesting conversation, I thought to myself.

I hadn’t even said anything yet about what I believe, yet right from the start she had clearly stated her rejection of my views.

I knew she probably wouldn’t respond well to questions about sin or Jesus, so instead I asked, “What do you think is the biggest problem in the world?” (I don’t normally ask this question, but I had just written a new questionnaire about an hour earlier. I saw the Lord’s provision in that!)

She and her friend liked the question and basically answered that the biggest problem in the world was selfishness. This led into a conversation about Hitler, morals, and truth, and the need for a standard of right and wrong (which they agreed to).

“I guess it comes down to ‘be a good person and that’s all that matters,’” Jackie said.
“Well, here’s my thinking on that,” I told her, “I know that I am not a good person in comparison to God’s holiness and perfection. It’s all in what you compare to.”
Though she didn’t agree with me, she couldn’t exactly disagree either.

Throughout the next half hour or so, I did a lot of listening and a lot of asking questions. A few times I squeezed in some truths, such as: how Christianity is different from the religions, God’s “rescue plan,” the difference between operational and historical science, etc.

I told them, “I disagree with all of the religions.”
This statement seemed to surprise them.
I explained, “All of the religions are about attaining favor with God. But the Bible says that doesn’t work; we could never attain God’s favor. Christianity is about God reaching down to us.”

When I left they thanked me warmly. They stated how nice it was to have clearly opposing views yet still have an enjoyable conversation.

When I came back and recounted the story to my dad, he reminded me of the power of questions. In a situation like this one–when you are talking with someone who has firmly and blatantly rejected Creation and Christianity–questions are a powerful tool. Sometimes, if we ask the right questions, people talk themselves into a corner. Often, it makes a more powerful impact to let them come to the conclusion that they don’t have good answers, rather than simply stating “you’re wrong and here’s why.” I think this is part of what Jesus meant when he told us to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16).

They probably won’t admit that they don’t have good answers at the time, but the Lord can bring the conversation back to their mind and use what we said.

Witnessing Stories

Great Things He Has Done

We are praising the Lord for the wonderful time witnessing at the parade yesterday! There is such a thrill in sharing the gospel and seeing the Lord’s little miracles along the way. NOTHING else compares!

“Those conversations are so fun,” my dad commented to me as we were walking back to the van afterward.

It’s grieving to think of all the times we fail to take opportunities to share the gospel. We miss out on *so much* when we aren’t out there witnessing.

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Praying before we started.

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Luke (the guy without the hat) sharing the gospel with this group. Luke comes witnessing with us frequently, but he does it much more on his own! It’s always exciting to hear his “latest story.”

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Nickie and Bekah went to a different street to passing out tracts and have conversations with people.

My dad had a great conversation with some Hispanic college students and two students wanted to pray and trust Christ to save them! Apparently, they had some previous Bible knowledge and yesterday “it all came together” for them. Praise the Lord!

I used a St Patrick Questionnaire which made it easier to start conversations quickly. I think the questionnaire makes people feel more comfortable and willing to talk.

My favorite conversation was one with Josh and Ciarra, a brother and sister who looked about 18 and 20. They just soaked up what I was telling them about salvation. No hesitation, no resistance, just pure openness and excitement about the good news of the gospel.

Ciarra had thought one could get to Heaven because “God forgives.” I told her she was partially right, but that there was more to it.

“If a criminal stood before the judge and said, ‘Will you just forgive me?’ the judge couldn’t just do that; he wouldn’t be a good judge.”

Ciarra and Josh really agreed with that.

When I explained that God provided JESUS to be our substitute and take our “death penalty” so that we could walk out of God’s courtroom free — yet God still be just — it seemed to click with them. As Romans 3:26 says, “So that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

“Actually, two guys talked to me about this in the mall last week,” Josh told me.
“Really? How did they start the conversation?” I asked, wondering if I would know who they were.
“Well, I was wearing a t-shirt that said ‘God is the only one who can judge me,’” and they complimented it.
“Ah, neat!” I replied. “What did they say?”
“About the same thing you said,” Josh replied.

“Well, I think that means that God is reaching out to you!” I told him. “I think it really shows His care! I mean, since that just happened last week, and now here I am talking to you – out of all the people here at the parade!”

Josh agreed enthusiastically, and seemed very surprised by all this himself. I had already given him a Bible a few minutes earlier as I sensed his eagerness. (I had given Josh a Begin, which has some of Genesis as well as John and Romans). He and Ciarra said they’d be interested in meeting up with us to study the Bible.

As I was recounting this story afterward, my friend Luke said, “Oh yeah, I talked to him at the mall Friday night.”
“Oh, that was you, Luke?!” I said.
“Yeah, I’ve been praying for him and we’ve been e-mailing,” Luke replied.
“That’s neat you’ve been praying for him!” Sarah said, “That’s probably why God caused Grace to talk to him today.”

Cedar Rapids is the second largest city in Iowa and there were 10,000+ people at the parade. The odds of me having a conversation with Josh are not high! Sarah reminded us that just a few days ago, we saw the Lord arrange another one of these “miraculous connections.” What an undeserved privledge that we are God’s “fellow workers” and get to watch Him work (1 Corinthians 3:9). It’s not surprising that we should especially see His hand in matters of reaching the lost.

20140317_023746_26190 I walked up as my dad was talking to these guys. After my dad laid out the gospel, one of the boys said, “Wow, that just blew my brain.” He was pretty excited about what he was learning.

20140317_024129_26198 There were also two girls sitting on a bench listening. After a few minutes they joined in and all four asked question after question … making the conversation go on and on. The girls were resistant initially, but really began to warm up as their questions were answered. [smile]

As we left, the guys thanked my dad warmly. “Thank you SO much,” they told him.

These teens had a lot of real questions. They were acting silly and argumentative, but only on the surface. They were laughing and having fun, just as we were. But they were also learning a lot. That is something they didn’t expect, but appreciated!

If Christians don’t get into talks with unbelievers, how will our world ever hear Biblical answers? They apparently don’t hear them anywhere else, and so they think there aren’t any answers.

What a privilege to be involved in their lives.

Miscellaneous/Videos/Witnessing Stories

The Bible is Not Like the Telephone Game


During the recent debate between Ken Ham and Bill Nye, Mr. Nye said that the Bible is like the game of telephone (meaning that it has been distorted over the years).

Since unbelievers say this so frequently, it’s important that we have a good answer! Our prayer is that this 4 1/2 minute video will help young people answer this argument with more clarity and confidence.

“But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:14-16

Creation Museum/Thoughts/Witnessing Stories

Great Teaching Tool For Defending the Faith

Our family has been having such an exciting week hearing more and more amazing reports of how God has been using the Ken Ham / Bill Nye debate!

One of my favorite media clips about the debate was this 18 minute interview aired yesterday between Alan Colmes (Fox News) and Dr. Terry Mortenson from Answers in Genesis.

This audio clip is a steady flow of face-paced skeptical arguments from Alan Colmes, with Dr. Mortenson boldly and politely answering each one with enthusiasm and precision.

If you want to learn how to answer skeptics, this is an outstanding teaching tool. Listen to it more than once because, remember: our goal is not to just be entertained, or even to rejoice that Dr. Mortenson did an excellent job. Our goal is to learn from him because we are ALL commanded “to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15)!

Family News/Witnessing Stories

Rejoicing!


One of our HIGHLIGHTS from 2013 was seeing the Lord work in the life of Christa, who trusted Christ for salvation on April 7th, 2013. She has become a very special part of our church family.

I think you would be blessed by watching this 3 1/2 minute video of her testimony and Nickie’s testimony before her baptism yesterday afternoon. Praise the Lord for the great things He does!

Miscellaneous/Witnessing Stories

University of Iowa

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Answers in Genesis now has a new little 4-to-a-page postcard available for distribution. Yay! (So nevermind about my last post. [smile])

A few hours ago my friends Nickie, Nolia, and Luke and I passed out several hundred of these postcards at the University of Iowa. There was a lot of interest! All we had to say was, “Did you hear about the debate between Bill Nye and–” and many were immediately interested in our postcard. Several stated how much they loved Bill Nye.

I found it interesting how stores that normally would be opposed to advertising something Christian were very willing to help us advertise this debate.

When I explained to a man who worked at a liberal bookstore what I was advertising, he said, “Well I want one!” taking a postcard with intrigue. Then he offered for me to put a whole stack at the front of his desk. “Then people can take one as they go by,” he told me.

I wish I had more time to put up posters in all the stores in town.