A Knife Pointed at Me, the Police, my Daughter, and the Gospel

Last Friday was the first time I evangelized in the subways without more experienced Open Air Campaigners staff with me. And God used it to help me become a seasoned Evangelist because just about everything that could go awry did. 😉

1. A knife pulled on me: In my first open-air message, I introduced myself to the crowd waiting for their train, started to show them a magic trick involving three ropes that shares the gospel. (You can see a video example of this here.) When I got to the part where I say, “I have these three ropes”, a man walking by me literally pulled out a knife, with the blade exposed and NOT in a sheath, held it so it was near my stomach, and said, “Do you want six ropes?”

   I laughed and said, “No thank you. I like the ropes the way they are.” He put his knife away and walked on. And I continued with the message.

   God must have been keeping me calm because it didn’t even phase me. It wasn’t until I was talking with my wife a few hours later and recounted it that she pointed out how dangerous (and illegal) it is for someone to pull a knife out and gesture it near or at someone. I thank God for His protection!

2. Trouble with Police: About an hour later, a Policeman came by and told me and my team that we had to move. The strange thing was that he wanted us to move somewhere much closer to the turnstiles, and that is against the law. Where I was is the same spot we always go to. I respectfully challenged his understanding of the law, but he insisted, so we left and found a different spot in the subways. (There are a lot of good spots in the subway system.)

3. Hecklers: Believe it or not, we don’t get a lot of hecklers in our ministry. I think it’s because we really do prayerfully try to share the message respectfully. Our message is offensive, but we present it courteously.

   This day there were at least two people who tried to give me a very hard time. One man proclaimed his own made-up god, a god who isn’t just and doesn’t punish sins. Another man wanted to talk about everything from welfare to politics to sex. What they both had in common is that they wouldn’t admit that they sin. They called it “not doing their best” or “being human.” I tried to lovingly let them both know that they, like everyone else, has broken the Law of the Just God of the Universe and will stand before Him and they need a Savior. Jesus is our only Savior.

4. Rude Musicians: There’s a certain “code” in the subways among musicians and others who are down there (like us) that when someone has a “spot” and another musician comes along, they don’t try to steal your “spot.”

   While I was preaching and my team handing out tracts and talking to people, a lady with a harp wanted to start playing right where we were. Thankfully she asked, and I politely told her we’d be here for a while, and she moved on.

   About an hour or so later, a guitarist who wasn’t so courteous came by, opened his guitar, put out his case and holder for donations, and literally started playing and singing right where we were! Oy vey!

   It was fairly close to the time we were going to stop anyway, so we just left.

On any given day, we expect these kind of incidents, but it was really something to have all of them happen on one day – the first time I don’t have a more experienced Evangelist with me. Oh well, part of my training!

I was really glad to have my daughter Vivienne with me! It’s always a joy to have my family with me on the field. And she did a SUPERB job going up to strangers, handing out gospel tracts, and chatting with them. It fills this daddy’s heart with such joy to see her interested in Jesus’ Great Commission!

I also had the pleasure of my friend Wes joining with us, and he also did a superb job chatting with people and handing out gospel tracts!

And many people very kindly took gospel tracts and listened attentively to the gospel preaching! Yeay! Also, a number of Christians approached me to thank me for witnessing to Jesus in the subways. 🙂

Please pray for the seeds planted to be watered and grow!

Here are some photos:

https://picasaweb.google.com/102024819319825275847/201301StrangeSubwayDay

Thank you for your prayers, notes of encouragement, and financial support. God is up to exciting things and it’s an honor to partner with you in the gospel of Jesus Christ!!!

all for Jesus,

Mark

Share this…

• 
  

  Facebook

• 
  

  Pinterest

• 
  
  
  Twitter

• 
  

  Linkedin

• 
  

  Email

• 
  

  Reddit

• 
  

  Whatsapp

• 
  
  
  Gmail

• 
  

  Print

• 
  
  
  Copy

• 
  

  Wechat

• 
  

  Messenger