Second Park Outreach

Please read about our second park outreach in the City of Carrollton in the Bezeugen BLOG.

New BLOG

There is a new BLOG called "First Thursday Day of Prayer". This group is dedicated to meeting at City Hall or your place of business to pray for the nation, state and city where you live. Please consider promoting this new blog and joining us (physically) or where ever you may live on June 3rd!

In Carrollton, we will be at the Carrollton City Hall at the Northeast corner of Jackson and Josey by the flag poles at 12:20-12:40PM.

First Thursday - Prayer for the Nation

Today was the National Day of prayer. We joined about 40 other believers in front of the Carrollton (TX) City Hall and prayed. We prayed for our leaders. We prayer for our nations. We prayed for repentance. We prayed that our churches would preach Biblically. It was a blessed time. Afterwards we enjoyed some fellowship with the other believers that were there.

While talking, we thought, "why do we only do this one day a year?" So we quickly discussed it and decided rather than waiting until the first Thursday of May 2011, we would meet back the first Thursday of every month. I announced the plan to about 10 people who were still there. We heard a resounding, "see you next month."

So we have decided to have a prayer meeting in front of City Hall the First Thursday of each month. Will you join us? If you live in Carrollton, will you come on June 3rd and join us? If you don't live in the area, will you go to your City Hall and pray there for your town and our nation?

God sends encouragement

Tonight I went door to door. It was the first time I had been on a weeknight in a long time. Prior to the spring time change it has been dark before people would be home from work. But, now the sun is up until 8PM. So I wanted to get out and share the Gospel and also see if there was any difference in the number of people that are home.

At the second house that I went too, I was speaking to a man who claimed he could get to heaven by being a good person. I asked how he knew that and he said "by looking in here" while pointing to his heart. I explained that the Bible says that the heart of man is wicked above all things. He then claimed that the Bible was unreliable because it was written by man. I explained that man was simply God's instrument to write it down. I asked which standard he used to measure goodness; his or God's. He said, "mine, but it is the same as God's." So I explained that God's standard is the Ten Commandments. He said OK. So I asked if he had lied and he agreed that he had. He then objected saying that he knew a lot of good Muslims and good Jews and that he believed that they would be in heaven. I said that they could go to heaven if they will repent and trust Jesus Christ to save them. We talked a short time longer. Then he accused me of speaking hatred and began to close the door. As he did, I simply said, "I'm sorry you say that, I am not spreading hate but love." At that, the door flew back open and he said sternly, "GET OFF OF MY PROPERTY." So I left.

It was a bit frightening. I have not been physically harmed or threatened while out going door to door. I continued to the next house, and that man would not even take a tract. Feeling discouraged, I pressed on because I know that I must not quit as people are perishing and facing God's wrath.

Finally, I reached a house where I spoke to a believer in Christ for about half an hour. It was very encouraging. So often when witnessing, I'll talk to someone who professes to be a "Christian" but then it turns out they are a Christian in name only. No so with this man. I asked how long he had been a Christian and he gave me his testimony and we talked for half an hour.

Saying good bye to him there were two houses left on the block. At the first of these two the house was completely dark. So I simply put a tract on the door and moved on.

At the last house, I was tempted to simply put a tract on the door and go home. It seemed to be dark as well. But as I went up the walk to the door, I could see the TV was on. So I rang the door bell. I was blessed to have another great conversation with a fellow believer. I was able to offer him some encouragement and prayer with him.

After a rough start to the evening, I am extremely thankful for the encouraging ending by speaking to these two believers.

800

Crossed a milestone today. I knocked on the door of my 800th house! Looking at the map, it looks like I can finish off this section of town in about 4 more hours. With the 34 houses I went to today, I have now been to 832 houses total. I have had 210 one on one conversations, gathered 133 prayer requests and gathered 678 food items.

Today I ended up at a couple houses of people that I've known for many years, but had not seen in a long time. We had good conversations and I was able to share the Gospel with them. Just goes to show that it is tougher to witness to people that you know. But, I was able to do it. Praise God!

The map below shows my current progress in my neighborhood. The highlighted areas are the portions I have already been too! Since First Baptist Hebron is covering the entire 75010 zip code, once I finish these houses, I'll move on to another zip code within Carrollton.

What do we do with Prayer Requests

I was asked in a comment on one of the posts "how do we collect the prayer requests and what do we do with them?" I thought the answer was worthy of its own blog post. So here it is...

The way we collect prayer requests is by asking, "is there any specific way that we can pray for you and your family?" This is step two of our three step approach. Step one is to ask for a food donation. And step three is to share the Gospel with them.


I carry a clip board with me when I go door to door. Among other things, on the clip board is a stack of prayer request forms. When I get a prayer request I complete information like data, name, address, request and general comments. I also have a place to mark if the person is a Christian or what other religion they belong too.

Once we have the prayer requests, we have a prayer meeting on the 1st and 3rd mondays of each month. At those meetings we pray for the prayer requests that were gathered. Normally we do this by dividing up the prayer request forms amongst all of those present at the meeting. Then someone opens in prayer. Wew each then pray over the cards we have. The cards can then either be put into the center of the table for someone else to take or passed left or right (as agreed in advance) so that everyone can pray for multiple requests.

Some requests it is appropriate to follow-up with the people. We have a separate team of people that are involved with the follow-up.

Normally, we will keep the prayer requests from previous meetings in future meetings for 2-4 months depending on the request and the follow-up feedback we receive.

For more information on the Carrollton for Christ Door to Door ministry please see the Bezeugen Door to Door web page.

God overcomes Obstacles

There has been a lot happening in the door to door area. A door to door map is now online on the Bezeugen web site. There are people around the country that are starting to go door to door. One church here in Carrollton has committed to taking one of the zip codes. Dispite all these things, it often seems like there are obstacles.

Today at one house a man could not hear me because his dog was barking so loud. Rather than step outside so that we could have a conversation about everlasting life, he let his dog win and went back inside. I figure if God can use a donkey, then satan can use a dog to prevent someone from hearing the Gospel. One man seemed receptive to the Gospel, but said he had to go someplace with his brother. He accepted a tract. At another house there was another loud dog.

I was getting discouraged.

I just prayed for open doors and hearts and pressed on down the street. I prayed that God would remove the obstacles. I am glad I did.

I met a young father who received Christ as savior and Lord about 14 months ago. He realized he was a wretched sinner and repented and trusted in Christ. We had a long conversation. Please pray for his wife who is unsaved. At the next house was a Christian woman and we had a nice conversation as well.

On to the next street. At the first house, a young man answered. I don't normally ask for food from teens since I don't want them giving away food that belongs to their parents. So rather than put him on the spot asking for food, I went right to the Gospel. I asked him if he believed in God. He said Yes. So I asked if he believed in heaven and hell. And he said yes again. He said that good people go to heaven. So I asked if he was good. He readily admitted to breaking the 9th, 3rd and 7th commandment. I told him that God sees him as a liar, a blasphemer and an adulterer. I asked him if he would be innocent or guilty. He said he would be guilty and agreed he would go to hell. I asked if that concerned him. He said Yes! So I lead him through the courtroom example, showing how with a million dollar payment he would be free from a million dollar fine that was due. He said he would be so thankful. So I told him that that is what Christ has done for him and explained the Gospel. Then I asked him if he had ever heard that before. He said, "No!"

So here is a teen ager, going to one of our local churches pretty much his whole life. He thinks he is going to heaven when he dies, and then admits he has never heard the Gospel. How sad. it makes me angry that our "churches" are not preaching the Biblical gospel. But the good news, is he was very receptive to the message. I gave him a Why Christianity? DVD and he said he was going to watch it right away. I explained to him that he can receive Christ by repentance and faith. He said he understood that and that he believed. It seems he received everlasting life right there on his door step!

I never expect to see anything like this. I realize that the full fruit of any efforts door to door or any type of evangelism will not be realized until we are all in heaven one day. But if sure was encouraging and I thank God for letting me see the fruit.

I continued down the street. At one house I noticed a little yellow phamplet that said "Jesus" on it. I could not make out exactly what it was. No one answered the door, so I left a tract. As I walked back towards the street I saw two women coming the other way on the other side of the street. They were going up to houses as well. I thought maybe they were Jehovah's Witnesses and prayed that God would give me an opportunity to speak with them. I went to the next house and left a tract there. Now I saw a man and a woman coming from the other direction on the street doing the same thing. I walked across the street and introduced myself to the man. His name was Tony. Sure enough. The four of them are JW's. He claimed that when we die our bodies return to the dust and our souls go to heaven. So I asked "who goes to hell?" He said "no one." I told him "that is not what the Bible says." At that point Tina joined us. I asked her the same question. I told them that according to the Bible there is a day of judgment based on the Ten Commandments and that we would all be assigned to heaven or hell based on that. Suddenly they claimed they did not have time to talk but that they would be gald to come to my house sometime. I gave them Why Christianity booklets. She would not take it. But he did. And I gave them each my card with my phone number and email address on it.

I'll need to re-watch Way of the Master Jehovah's Witness episode part 1





and part 2




and check out other resources before that discussion.

I then went back to door to door. At one house a man started asking me a bunch of questions about what church I am with. I tried to explain that I have an Evangelism ministry and offered him my card to identify myself. He refused it and asked me to leave. So I went to the next house. I had a couple more good conversations. At this point I was noticing that people were more standoffish. One man was a Christian, but was guarded. Finally, he stepped outside and explained that the JW's had just been there. I told him about my encounter.

I completed my way around the entire block and put the food that I had collected into the car. I felt the Holy Spirit telling me that I needed to go up the other side of the street where the JW's had been. So I started down that side of the street putting tracts on the doors where people were not home and talking to those that were. After a few more houses, a police officer pulled up in front of the house. She asked me what I was doing. I told her I was collecting food, gathering prayer requests and sharing the Gospel. She told me there had been a complaint and that I needed a permit to go door to door. She would not tell me who the complaint was from. I can only suspect it was from the man who asked me to leave on the other side of the street. So I will call the records department on Monday. Just like God overcame the other obstacles, God will overcome this obstacle too! More to follow.