Winter Evangelism: Warm and Toasty!

Londonderry Christian Church, a great Local Church, asked me to be a part of their 'Trunk or Treat' event on Halloween, and get this, because the town cancelled traditional trick or treating because of the weather, literally HUNDREDS of unchurched people came through and got to hear the gospel message. A lot of families stopped to 'solve the riddles' up on my glow-in-the-dark board. As a bonus, many Christians got to see that it doesn't need to be scary to reach out to the Lost. God can and will use us, and that's exciting!!!

I had the honor to preach to 50+ men at a 'Men's Night Out' event sponsored by Interdenominational Christian Men’s Network in Halifax, Massachusetts. This event is meant to be evangelistic - a safe place to bring an unbelieving friend. The text of my message: the book of Hebrews. The message: Jesus is Greater. Greater than what? Jesus is absolutely greater than anything. And when we grasp that, our life will never be the same. Praise God! FYI, the ICMN gets speakers like Josh McDowell and the Chaplain for the New England Patriots, so I'm not sure how I got to be invited. But I'm glad I was. :)

Jesse Remington High School, in Candia, NH, asked me to preach a lunch-time evangelistic message around Christmas-time.

Winter is a great time to work on productivity improvements that often we don't have time to do in the summer. Part of the charm of the OAC paint style is that it is 'old school.' Could we use flat screen digital displays? Sure, but it loses its appeal. But that doesn't mean we can't benefit from technology! An Architect friend (hiding behind the print on the left) recently got a 36-inch-wide scanner and printer. He took one of my most complicated paintings, scanned it digitally and printed it out full sized. You would be hard pressed to find the difference. My brush strokes, paint texture, even little mistakes, are all in the copy. It's amazing. This painting takes me about 2-3 hours to prepare everytime I need one. Now a copy can be printed. Soooooo cool! And I'm so thankful! P.S. this painting is entitled 'YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN' and teaches Nicodemus' encounter with Jesus in John, chapter 3.

Our State Capitol, Concord, NH, had its annual 'Midnight Merriment' event and tons of people came out for it. Our Christmas-themed fluorescent riddles got us intro loads of fruitful gospel conversations, like this one with this friendly family. Was it cold that night? Oh yeah! But worth it!!!

It was worth freezing outside to talk to nice folks, like these high-schoolers!

I got to be the Chapel Speaker for the Middle School Students at Abundant Life Christian School in Wilmington, Massachusetts. It was my first time at this school, and it was amazing. This photo shows the students praying with me at the end of my message. Fantastic kids!

This woman and her daughter were reading a gospel booklet in Romanian, their main language. What a joy to be able to share God's Word in a number of different languages! We carry gospel booklets in about 35 different languages with us.

Basketball outreach is a terrific way to reach the community! I was asked by Calvary Bible Church of Derry, NH, to lead devotions for three different age groups. This is the intermediate/advanced girls. Since I only had 15 minutes, and I had 4 weeks, I took the Open Air Campaigners famous paint message, 'Lord Save Me!' and split it up into four parts. Each week I taught a little more. I praise God for the opportunity to reach unchurched and churched kids (and their parents) with the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Jesse Remington High School put me to work again, and I couldn't be happier! They wanted their students to put their faith in action through evangelism. They asked me to teach a 7-Part class. This photo was from part 2, when we learned about the job of God's Law (the Ten Commandments) in evangelism. Please pray that these students will develop a lifetime burden for sharing the great news!

More from the Basketball Outreach. This was week 4 of 4. I believe the gospel was proclaimed clearly, Biblically, and with urgency. These are the intermediate boys. One adult came up to me and was so thrilled because his unsaved neighbor was there and heard every word. Praise God!

We had an unseasonably warm day at the end of February, so we headed to the University of New Hampshire. Over 600 gospel booklets were given out! Someone called the Police on us, but the Officers were very polite and let us continue our ministry work unhindered. You can see the Policeman on the left checking out our permit. We thank Jesus for favor with the authorities!

Many people are open to hearing about Jesus, like Allie here. After a short conversation with Chris, she took a Bible so she could read God's Word for herself. Praise God!

I had the honor to be the keynote preacher at a Missions Conference at The Fellowship, an outstanding Church in Easton, Massachusetts. It was terrific! The text, Matthew 5, 'The Beatitudes.' True born-again believers will be different than the world, and different than how we were before Christ. And we'll be so in love and awe with Jesus that it'll be hard to shut us up from talking about Him!

This is cute. After my Sunday_school class at The Fellowship, the kids were soooooo interested in seeing how the magic trick I did worked. I like showing the kids that it's only an illusion and not really magic. The only power they should be concerned with is when God takes a heart of stone and makes it born again into a heart of flesh. Such precious kiddos!

Winter is a great time to get paintings ready for the summer. The busy summer Kid's Bible Club ministry will be here before we know it! These three paintings are from a 5-part series on 'Who Is Jesus?' I can't wait to see who God sends our way to hear these vital messages!

I got to test out my new idea of proving God exists using sandcastles. I think it made for pretty effective open-air preaching. If you'd like to see the video, please check it out at: https://youtu.be/pGUTo_u9KwY

This is Derek. He recently was released from jail. He has a Roman Catholic background and told me that good people go to Heaven. I reasoned with him that none of us are good enough to merit Heaven, and that's why Jesus said we must be born again. Derek was very polite and heard me out. Please pray that God water that gospel seed and that Derek will be saved the only way possible: by repentance and faith in Christ.

We love to see this - people reading the gospel booklets we give out! Praise God!

I love subway ministry. People really do listen and pay attention. You can see all the people focused on Chris as he clearly presented the gospel message.

And there are often people who want to pray with us afterward, and that's a blessing!

It's not everyday that you share Jesus with a drunk Mob Hitman. This is D, and he had a LOT to talk with me about. He admitted to being the 'enforcer' for his 'family.' He admitted to doing many terrible things. His wife is dying and D wanted to know why it wasn't him, since he's the 'bad guy.' I explained that because of Jesus, anyone, even him, even me, can be forgiven. I told D that Jesus commanded everyone to be born again through repentance and faith. We talked for about a half hour. He took an evangelistic DVD and booklet. Please pray for D.

It's always an honor to open God's Word. This was at Deerfield Bible Church, in Deerfield, NH. I had never been to this Church before. Great people! Very friendly. My text: Luke 15. The topic: The Heart of God for the Lost.

This night I got to teach kiddos. Lots of them (two separate groups)! They had lots of energy, but paid good attention to my message. I tore up a newspaper and seemingly did the impossible by restoring the newspaper untorn. This was to illustrate Luke 18:27. Please pray that the kids will internalize that salvation is impossible with man, but possible with God. This was at AWANA at Calvary Bible Church in Derry, NH.