Beach Evangelism in the Age of COVID

Do people really listen to strangers tell them about Jesus? All the time! That's why we go out to where the unsaved are!

This is Antonio, a friendly young man who left the church at 18 because, in his words, "I didn't want to be a hypocrite." Antonio said he knows Jesus is right and sin is wrong, but he likes his sin. Just as I started to remind him that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), a group of his friends came and pulled him away. The timing was uncanny. Antonio wanted to stay, telling his friends, "dudes I want to talk to this guy," but they pressured him to leave. I did give him a gospel tract and implored him to follow Christ. And I prayed for him when he left, a victim of obvious Spiritual Warfare. But get this! He came back! We talked more and it was awesome! I encouraged him to not be a hypocrite but follow Jesus. We shook hands. He took an article I had on the resurrection. He thanked me. He could be my son. His Christian parents are praying for him I'm sure. Let's all pray for Antonio.

This is Johnathan, a kind young man from The Dominican Republic. He and his friend were very open and listened to Ted share his testimony of how Jesus saved him. Ted wove the Gospel all through it. Johnathan gladly took the gift of a New Testament from Ted. Praise God!

"I went to twelve years of CCD and I never learned as much as I have right now." That's what Danielle (middle) said after talking with Jenn and Lizzie about redemption in Christ. Danielle's friends Natalia (left) and Bryce (on right but covered by Lizzie) also participated really well. All three young ladies took Gospel booklets. And this is why we go to the beach. Hallelujah!

God seems to send the strangest people to Chris - it happens all the time! This unique man believes in aliens but not Jesus. Chris was able to share the Gospel quickly, but sadly he wanted to leave when the Gospel came up.

This is Rowan, Morgan, and Joella. They're three sweet high-schoolers who ran into us and spoke with us a number of times at the beach. It got to the point that they'd come right over and say "Hi, do you remember us?" I'd always review with them our need to "Turn and Trust." Oh, and they loved my dog, Jarvis!

Jarvis the Evange-Dog was working really hard and needed a bit of a nap. Just don't call it a "cat nap." hahahaha

This riddle board is evangelism gold. It's painted with fluorescent paint and under the black light it glows in the dark. Tons of people come from all over to try to figure out the riddle "What Comes Next?" And most of them stay to talk about The Gospel. Can you figure out the answer for each line? 4, 1, 8, W, Earth, and the last one we ask, "What do you think happens after you die?" And you're off into a great witnessing conversation. Praise God!

This is a Spanish-Speaking family. Mallory did a great job explaining salvation to them. We were able to give them Gospel Booklets in Spanish. And they were kind enough to help us learn Spanish better!

Faith and Chloe are both Teens, and they did a solid job sharing Jesus with these three guys.

This is called "Triple Evangelism." Faith is sharing Jesus with a family on the left. Terry and Patrice are talking with three Teens on the right. And if you look in the back, Wayne is sharing Jesus there. This is NOT uncommon at the beach!

This is Stephanie. She identified herself to me as Bi-romantic. She wanted to talk about President Trump but I wouldn't go there. Stephanie believes all religions are the same. I asked her questions to show her there are differences. We had a very respectful conversation. She took a copy of my testimony, "A Jew and His God," because she was fascinated that I'm a Jew who believes in Jesus.

This is Caleb (in grey) and Sam (in red). Caleb a Born-Again follower of Jesus. Sam isn't, but interested. Sam told Chris that he doesn't think about eternity too much because, "I'm vibing right now." Chris shared his salvation testimony with them. Caleb asked for prayer for an upcoming ultrasound on his heart. Chris prayed for him and Caleb prayed for Chris. And Sam witnessed 2 strangers kindly praying for one another. I'm certain Sam had a lot to think about, and Caleb had a wide-open door to future witnessing to his friend. Everybody wins!!!

Wayne doing a great job keeping the attention of this family with an optical illusion that leads naturally into the Gospel.

This is Holly and Cheyanne, two of the nicest young ladies I have met. You ever talk to someone about salvation, and you can visually SEE them get it by their facial expressions? That's what happened with Holy, and it was beautiful! I took both of them through "The Good Person Test" to illustrate that we're all bad. Holly knew a lot of doctrine from her Catholic education, but you can know "about Jesus" without actually knowing Jesus. Holly never put together the personal offer of the Gospel and that she must personally receive Jesus' offer through Repentance and Faith. It was as if a light went off in her. You could see it in her face! I offered her a fake million dollar bill (I carry a ton of them). I asked her, what do you need to do to make this million yours. She said, "I have to take it." I said, "it's the same with Jesus' offer of forgiveness. You have to take it, and you do that through Repentance and Faith." She said what I said makes her want to cry. We talked about Faith and Repentance. I gave them both a Bible and Holy said, "Is it okay if I hug you?" So I got a hug out of the deal and met two sweet kids who could be my daughters. I told them, "If you were my daughters, I'd plead with you to look after your Eternal wellbeing. Please think about these things and turn to Jesus." They cried. I got teared up. It was really beautiful. Please pray for these sweet sweet young ladies, Holly and Cheyanne.

This is Danillo, a kind, but hurting man. He told Heidi that his dog saved him from a suicide attempt. Danillo prays, but doesn't feel like God is listening. Heidi prayed over him and Danillo literally wept, right there. He said, "I can feel it in my knees." Danillo wants to know God. They hugged. He took a copy of "The Gospel of John." He was so thankful!

This almost NEVER happens. Typically Police only talk to us if they are responding to a complaint about us. But these two Police Officers wanted to try our pre-evangelistic riddles! And they wanted to talk about Jesus! Woo hoo! These two Officers had a terrific back-and-forth with Chris about Eternity, The Gospel, Jesus, and Salvation. Both Officers took a copy of The Gospel of John! And they both took a new Gospel Tract that says "Police Lives Matter" on one side, and had a Gospel message on the other. Hallelujah!

Pastor Rusty came out to help, and he was a "master" chatting with people all night!

This is scary. What you're looking at is a burn hole in Wes' shirt. It got there when three 20-year-olds threw lit fireworks at our team. Two fireworks got stuck on Wes while still lit, burning through his shirt, burning his ribs, and burning above his elbow. The three young men denied that they did it (even though Chris clearly saw them do it.) And the men implied that we only thought they did it because of their skin color, and it was obvious that they wanted to have a fist fight. I praise God for His protection. Wes was amazing. Despite being in pain, having a ruined shirt, and getting scared, he kept calm. Chris was great too. He de-escalated the situation by telling the men, "Whoever did this we forgive them and bless them in Jesus' name." Please pray for those three young men who threw the lit fireworks at us, that The Holy Spirit will convict them of their sin, and we'll see them come to biblical Repentance and Faith.

There was extra security on the 4th of July!

I got to meet the Governor of my State. (He's the one in the blue shirt, not the little grey guy.) The Governor took a Gospel Tract from me, and every single Police Officer (and there were LOTS) took a "Police Lives Matter" card with a Gospel message on the back. Praise God!

This is Chevy and Devin, two guys who started out argumentative, but changed to "real," and we had a respectful dignified conversation about Jesus and the Gospel. I mainly spoke with Devin. He claims to follow the Norse god Odin, but, when talking to him, it's evident he follows Satan. He even tried to argue that Satan is the good guy in the Bible. Both Chevy and Devin are nice guys, but hurting. They've both suffered tremendous pain and have pushed that on God. They literally are rebelling against the True God. And that's so sad. Please pray for these two men, that the Holy Spirit will open their eyes that they are rebelling against the One they need most. Please pray that they will forsake false gods and have peace with the One True God through our Lord Jesus Christ. P. S. They both wanted to keep Jarvis the poodle, and I said NO.

Mick came out to be on the team, but he was scared. Yet he started a conversation with a stranger named Will. Afterward, Mick said, “Wow, Evangelism is Contagious!” One more Christian who now is more willing to share the Gospel without fear!

This is Noah. He's 20 years old. Noah's Grandmother (on the right) is a Born-Again believer. That's Heidi on the left. She's part of our team. I took Noah through "The Good Person Test" to illustrate that we're all sinful before God and need forgiveness. Noah said that he's very concerned about that. Interestingly, Noah had tattoos of 3 crosses and Bible verses, but didn't know what they meant. He seemed to really listen when I explained Jesus' command to Repent and Believe the Gospel.

Ted is very gifted at getting into conversations with individuals or groups. It seems like whenever I look over at him, I see a scene like this. Hallelujah!

Chris had a terrific conversation with these nice women. They're both Roman Catholic, but they have added New Age beliefs too. One of them asked Chris to pray for her son who is in rehab. Chris prayed for him right there on the spot. The woman asked, "What's the difference between Roman Catholicism and Christianity?" Terrific Question!!! Chris got to share the Biblical Gospel, and they both paid attention. They each took a copy of "The Gospel of John."

Don't believe the lie that Teens aren't interested in thinking about Eternity. Chris shared the Gospel thoroughly with these 4 Teens. They were very polite and very attentive to listening. And each one of them accepted the gift of a "Gospel of John." We overheard one of them say excitedly to his buddy as they were biking away, "I'm gonna read the Bible."

This is Brian. He claimed to be a Christian, but he told John and me that Christians don't need to read the Bible. He also was adamant (and angry) that we don't need to evangelize. Brian misquoted scripture. We suspect he could be demon-possessed. Please pray for deliverance for Brian.

How cool is this? I often use sand-castles as evidence of God's existence. And the Town of Hampton made that sooooo easy by having this one built right near where we evangelize. For more info on using sand-castles as an effective object lesson, please see: https://sandcastles.luke-15.org/

This is Shannon and Adam. Shannon called herself a Pagan. After talking for a while, she said her Church let her down when she was a child. Sadly we hear this a lot. Richard brought her through the commandments to illustrate to Shannon that her big problem isn't whether people at a Church let her down, but her own personal sin. He asked her how her paganism will provide forgiveness of sin. Then Richard shared the Gospel and explained that we can go directly to God because of what the Son of God did on the cross. Shannon and Adam both took a Gospel booklet. Praise God!

It was super to have OAC Missionary Erin Chervenak in town. She came with a Church group from New York. Here she's illustrating the Gospel message using an object lesson with three ropes, and these kiddos are super focused on what she's saying. Physical object lessons can be a powerful tool for communicating Biblical truth.

This is Mike from New York. He loves loves loves Jesus and people. And he loves sharing Jesus with people, as you can see here.

This man (on the right) speaking with Chip was an anomaly. Chip had me come talk with him because the man said he was Jewish. So he and I spoke for a half hour or more. When I told him I'm Jewisht and through studying came to be convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, he assumed I was joking. Then he said it would only be okay for me to say I believe in Jesus if I'm making money off it. I told him I left a high-paying job as an Engineer to be a Missionary, so, nope, not in it for the money. I follow Jesus because He's true. By the way, the man wouldn't give me his name, so in this update I'll call him "the man." The man said the Hebrew Bible is perfect, "so why would I follow the New Testament?" I reasoned with him that all you need is the Hebrew Bible to find Jesus. I even had him open a Bible right there and read the end of Isaiah 52 through Isaiah 53. He didn't know what to make of that. I told him, "It's really really obvious, but you might not like it." Understand, this man is unusual. The great majority of Jewish people don't consider The Hebrew Bible to be perfect, or even written by God. Most Jewish people are secular in their beliefs. So for him to say he agrees with Moses is unusual. I reminded him that Moses said that we must have a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin, "for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the LORD. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible" (Leviticus 17:11). He said we can get atonement through other ways. But I reminded him that God's Word, through the Prophet Moses, in the Torah, says we MUST have a blood sacrifice, and God allowed the place of the sacrifice, The Temple, to be destroyed shortly after Jesus, the Lamb of God, made that final blood sacrifice. This man was confused. He kept going back to his belief that Christianity was invented by the Romans and the New Testament written by Roman authors to subdue people. I let him know that the Roman Empire didn't adopt Christianity until the 4th Century and we have NT manuscripts going back to the 1st. The New Testament was written by Jewish Prophets about the Jewish Messiah who was prophesied ahead of time in the Jewish Bible. After about a half hour he wanted to leave. I offered him a copy of my testimony, how I came to realize that Jesus is the Messiah, but he wouldn't take it. He said, "I can't take that because I fear the LORD." I'm glad this man heard the gospel audibly. Please pray that The Holy Spirit does to him what He did to me all those years ago. The Holy Spirit opened my eyes. And He can do that for anyone. If you want a copy of my testimony, entitled "A Jew and His God," please feel free to check it out here: https://mystory.great-news.org

How about meeting two kids from Nairobi, Kenya at a beach in New Hampshire? Mike had a great conversation with these two. The younger one was sharp as a tack. At one point he said, "I get it, Jesus died for our sins." And that's why we go out to the beach. Praise God!

Jonathan was a brand-new volunteer, but he did a super job talking with people. We thank God for the tremendous team of people He assembles for the ministry!

Miriam is from Uganda, and she was a Muslim who turned Atheist, who met Jesus, and is now an on-fire follower of Jesus Christ! Miriam joined us at the beach and spoke with this group of teens for quite some time, reasoning with them on why Jesus is the Only Way. They were focused on what she had to say. Miriam shares her testimony with passion and authenticity and lots of Scripture. It's encouraging for me to eavesdrop in. I so appreciate the volunteers who come to join our team at the beach! Please pray for the many Gospel seeds planted this summer!

This is Ryan and Maxine. Get this: somebody gave Ryan a Bible a month ago, and then he got another Bible just 5 days ago! This shows that Evangelism is often a "team effort" with God using many Christians along the way. Jesus is really reaching out to Ryan! Maxine had a lot of head knowledge about God (she attended a Christian boarding school), but sadly she didn't have saving faith. They both listened patiently to Chris explain the simple Gospel message. Please pray for these two. Thanks and God bless you!

This is Michael Sr and Michael Jr, a Father and Son. When I asked them about Eternity they looked at each other and said, "We were just talking about this." Michael Jr knows about Christianity. He watches Frank Turek videos on YouTube. But he's not certain what it means to be Born Again. He recently read Revelation and had lots of questions about that. Michael Sr had more questions. He told me about his Depression and Suicidal thoughts. It's amazing how strangers will open up to you. I pointed both of them to Christ and the Gospel. They thanked me and we shook hands. Please pray for these two thoughtful and hurting men.

This group stopped to listen to Richard. He used a rope-trick to explain our sin and Jesus' sacrifice. They were focused on what he had to tell them. Praise God!

This is Ishmael, and he had a looooot of questions. Chip and John had a very long discussion with him. But this is cool: a local Pastor overheard what was going on and joined in. The three of them prayed over Ismael for God to reveal himself to him.

This is Connor, Brian, and John, These guys were very thoughtful and considerate as I brought them through "The Good Person Test," and they each saw that they have broken God's Law many times. Get this, they had NO IDEA AT ALL what God did so that sinners could be forgiven and adopted. So when I shared Jesus on the cross and salvation by grace through faith, this was news to them. Hallelujah, there's nothing better than sharing the great news! These three young men listened very well and we're thoughtful and kind and agreed to think and consider what they learned. They each took a Gospel booklet. Praise God!

Do people listen and consider Jesus' message? Yes! Sometimes a whole family at a time!

The fluorescent paint under the black-light makes a great draw for people to come over.

Sometimes when you take one person through our riddles, more people show up and listen. And then they ALL hear the saving Gospel message!!!

This is Jose and Trish. They said they believe in a "god," but at the same time they don't know what to believe. (This is very very common.) These two sweet people were very open to listen. They took a "Gospel of John" and a handout on Evidence for the Resurrection. I told them, "Biblical faith is not a fairytale. There is solid reason to believe." They were thankful.

These teenagers were really sweet and listened to the Gospel message and took Gospel booklets. Yay! In this photo I'm using a "red and blue curved optical illusion" with them to illustrate the point that our eyes deceive us, but God's revelation never will. It's very effective to get a good conversation going.

This is Tanner, an unusual young man who identified as a Unitarian. I asked him what he means by "Unitarian" and what he believes about Jesus. Tanner said that he can't believe in the Trinity because he can't believe that a man could become God. I pointed it to Tanner that Christianity doesn't believe that a man became God. We believe that God took the form of a man. "Can't an all-powerful God take on human form?" Tanner agreed that could happen. I asked Tanner how often he reads the Bible and he said every few weeks for a few hours. I tried to take him through "The Good Person Test" but he had very long-winded answers and it was unfruitful. I did my best to share the Gospel succinctly with Tanner. Tanner had wrong information about the Bible. For instance, he said the books John wrote are unreliable because they were written 300 years after Jesus by a Greek man. I asked Tanner, "Where did you learn that?" He stumbled and admitted he wasn't sure. I told him about early textual evidence for John, and he admitted he could be wrong. One of the things that makes cults the same is that they're wrong on who Jesus is. So I gave Tanner a handout I made for Jehovah's Witnesses showing from the Bible that Jesus is God. He was really impressed that I wrote that and thanked me. Tanner is a nice young man, but has strange beliefs. Please pray that The Holy Spirit will lead him to the truth. And if you want the handout on Biblical support for Jesus being God, please download it for free at: https://luke-15.org/trinity.pdf

This is Alyssa and Isabella, two 18-year-olds with Roman Catholic upbringings, but didn't know about salvation by grace through Jesus. Isabella didn't appear to be taking our conversation seriously, but Alyssa did. I took both of them through the "Good Person Test" to illustrate that they need grace. Isabella softened somewhat as we spoke. Both of them are sweet and I think they believed that I truly care about them. They got emotional when I gave them a Gospel of John. I told them, "If I were your Dad, and I could be, I'd beg you to read this book and get to know Jesus and really consider the gospel message we talked about." They said they would.

This is sad. Typically the beach has laaaaarge concerts every week. But in the new world of COVID, this is what socially distant concerts look like. :(

Can I just say how GROSS these beach foods look. People better know where they will spend Eternity if they eat this because they're gonna get there faster - oy vey!

This is Anne (and her two daughters). Anne really wanted to know if it's rational to believe. She asked if faith is "blind." I gave her evidence and she was soooooo receptive. And I shared Jesus and she really listened. Anne appreciated and received an essay on the Resurrection that also has a gospel message. It's such a JOY to chat with someone who is sooooo hungry to know God for real. Anne and her daughter's left with a lot to think about. Please pray for them.