Here is a sample of Jim preaching at the San Francisco "Carnival." We were blessed to share the gospel with over 20k people this day.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
The Phoenix Petaluma (4-30-10)
This was to be my first time street-preaching in my hometown so I was a bit apprehensive to say the least. The Phoenix is a local "punk emporium where teens with angsty [sic] expressions, tattoos, and drooping ear gauges rule the mosh pit" (this is the description I got off the website). In other words; its a den of iniquity.
I felt somewhat relieved that Jim was leading the way as he has preached there many times. On one occasion (by some divine miracle) he was actually granted permission by the owner to preach the gospel during the intermission of a Punk concert. He got about 20 seconds into the 'sermon' before the crowd began shouting, "We love Satan! We love Satan! We love Satan!" Now Jim and the owner of the Phoenix have a rather tenuous relationship...
As our time approached I became very nervous. This was a "Rap" concert so my imagination was running away with me over what might happen. Around 5 PM I noticed that I had missed a call from Jim on my phone. He had left a message saying that he would not be able to make it down in time and that he was sorry.Oh well, I guess it was not meant to be. There was no possible way I would go down there alone - not to a rap concert. (My wife was adamant about that.) Then my heart started pounding, "What about all the people who have prayed for this? Should I go Lord?" Immediately I knew what the answer was, now I just had to bring my will into conformity.
That was no easy task and I paced the house for over an hour, praying that the Lord would give me the courage to go. The courage never came so I had to go without it and trust that the Lord would supply what was lacking when it was needed.
It was packed outside with about 500 of Sonoma County's youth. I stood up on my chair right at the front of the line and preached the gospel for about an hour.
It was quite a scene. They mocked and railed me for the entire time. It mattered little - Christ was making His appeal through this poor preacher - begging them to flee from their sin into the arms of the Savior. They continued to mock and rail and spit and sin as I continued to preach and plead and rebuke and warn. It was a glorious night! I can't wait to go back!
I felt somewhat relieved that Jim was leading the way as he has preached there many times. On one occasion (by some divine miracle) he was actually granted permission by the owner to preach the gospel during the intermission of a Punk concert. He got about 20 seconds into the 'sermon' before the crowd began shouting, "We love Satan! We love Satan! We love Satan!" Now Jim and the owner of the Phoenix have a rather tenuous relationship...
As our time approached I became very nervous. This was a "Rap" concert so my imagination was running away with me over what might happen. Around 5 PM I noticed that I had missed a call from Jim on my phone. He had left a message saying that he would not be able to make it down in time and that he was sorry.Oh well, I guess it was not meant to be. There was no possible way I would go down there alone - not to a rap concert. (My wife was adamant about that.) Then my heart started pounding, "What about all the people who have prayed for this? Should I go Lord?" Immediately I knew what the answer was, now I just had to bring my will into conformity.
That was no easy task and I paced the house for over an hour, praying that the Lord would give me the courage to go. The courage never came so I had to go without it and trust that the Lord would supply what was lacking when it was needed.
It was packed outside with about 500 of Sonoma County's youth. I stood up on my chair right at the front of the line and preached the gospel for about an hour.
It was quite a scene. They mocked and railed me for the entire time. It mattered little - Christ was making His appeal through this poor preacher - begging them to flee from their sin into the arms of the Savior. They continued to mock and rail and spit and sin as I continued to preach and plead and rebuke and warn. It was a glorious night! I can't wait to go back!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Bay to Breakers (5-16-10)
Bay to Breakers is the 14th most-run (and the 4th longest run) road race in the world. It annually draws over one-hundred thousand participants and thus we thought it would be a great venue to preach at.
We set up towards the end of the race in beautiful Presidio Park. This would allow us to preach at the ‘after parties’ as well. Not only had I done a bit of research on the race, but I had also grown up watching the Boston Marathon and so I thought I knew what to expect.
The first runners passed us around 8:20AM. They were clearly world class athletes. We began preaching: “Flee from your sin, run to Jesus, etc.” After about 15 minutes the packs of runners became thicker and thicker until all I could see for the next three and a half hours was a sea of humanity coming towards me.
This wasn’t the Boston Marathon. Many of the runners were naked. About half were in costumes – a great percentage of them of an extremely perverted nature. It seems that San Fran-sick-o can turn even a road race into a bath of iniquity.
Whenever a naked runner would pass (and this was every 30 seconds) I would say “Oh save yourselves from this wicked and perverse generation!” The other runners would become so angry. How dare I “judge” them! “Go back to %@#*& church” was their constant request. If you are wondering, “why were they not arrested for public nudity?” your guess is as good as mine.
The after party was unreal. I have never seen sin more openly displayed. Jim got up on the chair first: “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is near!” That drew a crowd. There was about 100 people around us and about 1000 in the immediate vicinity. They were all hostile.
Two or three police officers were looking on. Nude people were walking by. Drugs were everywhere. It was anarchy.
Jim preached for about 15 minutes then I took my turn. By the time I was done there was now a small crowd around us becoming more and more hostile. “Repent, turn from your sin, flee to the Savior.” They were outraged. Sinners love their sin you know. I was sexually assaulted twice while I was preaching and that in plain view of the police.
By now there were about seven officers around us. Jim got up to preach again. The crowd got thicker and more hostile. A cop came over to me, “tell your partner that he’s got 10 minutes. We are here to protect you but this thing is getting out of hand.” I said, “Could you give us twenty minutes? We are not breaking any laws.” He agreed initially but then he started to panic. “I don’t want this turning onto a riot. Get that guy off the chair and get out of here.” By the time Jim was done there was around a dozen police called over. All for us. Thank you Jesus for the protection!
If the Bay to Breakers website is correct we preached the gospel to around 100k people that day. Praise the Lord!
We set up towards the end of the race in beautiful Presidio Park. This would allow us to preach at the ‘after parties’ as well. Not only had I done a bit of research on the race, but I had also grown up watching the Boston Marathon and so I thought I knew what to expect.
The first runners passed us around 8:20AM. They were clearly world class athletes. We began preaching: “Flee from your sin, run to Jesus, etc.” After about 15 minutes the packs of runners became thicker and thicker until all I could see for the next three and a half hours was a sea of humanity coming towards me.
This wasn’t the Boston Marathon. Many of the runners were naked. About half were in costumes – a great percentage of them of an extremely perverted nature. It seems that San Fran-sick-o can turn even a road race into a bath of iniquity.
Whenever a naked runner would pass (and this was every 30 seconds) I would say “Oh save yourselves from this wicked and perverse generation!” The other runners would become so angry. How dare I “judge” them! “Go back to %@#*& church” was their constant request. If you are wondering, “why were they not arrested for public nudity?” your guess is as good as mine.
The after party was unreal. I have never seen sin more openly displayed. Jim got up on the chair first: “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is near!” That drew a crowd. There was about 100 people around us and about 1000 in the immediate vicinity. They were all hostile.
Two or three police officers were looking on. Nude people were walking by. Drugs were everywhere. It was anarchy.
Jim preached for about 15 minutes then I took my turn. By the time I was done there was now a small crowd around us becoming more and more hostile. “Repent, turn from your sin, flee to the Savior.” They were outraged. Sinners love their sin you know. I was sexually assaulted twice while I was preaching and that in plain view of the police.
By now there were about seven officers around us. Jim got up to preach again. The crowd got thicker and more hostile. A cop came over to me, “tell your partner that he’s got 10 minutes. We are here to protect you but this thing is getting out of hand.” I said, “Could you give us twenty minutes? We are not breaking any laws.” He agreed initially but then he started to panic. “I don’t want this turning onto a riot. Get that guy off the chair and get out of here.” By the time Jim was done there was around a dozen police called over. All for us. Thank you Jesus for the protection!
If the Bay to Breakers website is correct we preached the gospel to around 100k people that day. Praise the Lord!
Market & Powell (Various Dates)
Jim and I have been out to Market and Powell in downtown San Francisco every Sunday since the last post. As you can see I am way behind in updating the blog and do not have the time to catch up. We leave every Sunday at 1:30 PM and preach for approximately 4 hours.
We estimate from our spot that around four thousand people an hour hear the gospel from our mouths; that's around 80,000 people since my last post. If you would like to join us in this ministry we would love to have you!!!
We estimate from our spot that around four thousand people an hour hear the gospel from our mouths; that's around 80,000 people since my last post. If you would like to join us in this ministry we would love to have you!!!
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