The Work of an Evangelist

This small county fair in the heart of liberal Portland posed some unique challenges from the very beginning, but God is faithful and blessed the event in several ways. My dad and I ran into our first dilemma the Friday evening before the fair started when we went to go setup the booth. Several times before the fair started we contacted the fair administration to find out where our booth location was, and they simply told us to show up and we would find our location marked with our name. So with two hours left in the day to setup and with our van load of tables, chairs, boxes, etc.; we wandered around until we found a patch of grass next to the side walk marked “Amazing G.” I was shocked. We didn’t even have a tent! Thankfully my mother was at home on the computer and helped us find a store nearby that sold tents. An hour later we came back and setup our new Bi-Mart 10×10 canopy complete with sidewalls. Oh, and did I mentioned it was raining? Well, it was and as we setup our tables and equipment underneath the new tent, water started dripping on everything… apparently our new tent was only a shade tent.  At this point we were out of time so we piled everything on the tables, covered it all with tarps, prayed for God’s grace and went home. I was discouraged.

Our Leaky Tent

As it turned out, when I got home that evening and did some internet research on heavy-duty vendor tents in Portland, a gentleman was selling a brand-new commercial-style vendor tent on Craigslist in Portland the very same weekend. To make a short story shorter, despite the fact that all the major retailers were either closed or did not offer the right product; God allowed us to buy the perfect soul-winning booth tent for an amazing price at just the right time and place! My brother drove down Saturday morning to pick it up and helped me set it up at the fair. Within only a few hours of the opening day, we had visitors under our new tent. Praise God now we have a wonderful asset for all the other outdoor events we would like to do now that we have our own soul winning tent.

My brother Jonathan and his wife Suzanne in front of our new tent

Enough of the boring stuff, to see God working in people’s lives was the most exciting aspect of the event. During the first shift, the assistant pastor’s daughter was busy talking to a succession of interested young people that stopped by during the first few hours of the fair. I praise God when I see the Spirit of Truth bearing witness in the lives of those who have believed on Him. Having all of the excited soul-winners come out from Great Portland Baptist Church to help at this event was one such example. Below are several snapshots of these. All told, there were two known professions of faith in Christ during the event plus many more “Gospel preaching” conversations.

Two Interested Ladies Filling Out Visitor Cards

Llama Owner Listening

Family Fun at the Fair

One particular witness encounter that my dad had stands out to me. The couple pictured below came into the booth because the lady was a Christian, but she knew her husband was not and she wanted him to hear the Gospel. This might sound natural to you, but we see many instances where someone in a group of onlookers is showing interest in listening to the Gospel, but another member of the same group will speak up that he or she is already a believer and they don’t need to hear anymore. This always closes the door to witnessing because the group moves on, pressuring the lone dissenter to follow. This lady (a) believed that personal salvation is the most important thing in life and (b) cared enough about her husband to make that opportunity happen. Sadly, he was not very interested in what Dad was showing him from the Bible and they had to leave before they finished. However, we know that God honors the faith of those who take steps of faith like this young lady.

A Young Lady Being an "Andrew" (Jn 1:42)

Young Men Listening... Notice the Little Brother

I mentioned that Portland is a liberal city right? Well that is an understatement. I honestly was not expecting much to happen at this fair because I knew how hard the hearts of Portlanders are against the truth (but I was short-changing God again). One particularly illustrative scenario of this was when a shocked mother pulled her young son away from our booth after she read the statement behind the third door: “God cannot let any sin into heaven.” She huffed away muttering “this booth is not appropriate for children.” The odd part was that her “sheltered son” was outfitted in skull-and-bones insignia and she was a bit Gothic herself. Why don’t they see that?

On the flip side, God demonstrated his power over “liberalness” by bringing by a senior saint that testified of her conversion from a practicing pagan to saved in Christ. All she wanted to talk to us about was God’s faithfulness to her, his grace and mercy in allowing her to be saved, and testimony after testimony of God’s power in her life. She was saved just a couple years ago in the Lake Oswego area and evidences a sincere desire for truth. Here is a picture of her talking with us.

This lady testified that she was practicing Pagan until just a few years ago when she was saved

Last but not least, I had the joy of witnessing to a young Catholic girl named Theresa. I didn’t know she was Catholic until later, however it was so neat to show her verses of truth in the Bible and see how it visibly affected her tender heart. When I first got her attention outside she seemed hesitant to stop and look, but when she agreed to let me show her from the Bible how she could be 100% sure of going to heaven, she was decisive about it. At the end of my presentation, I try to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and most importantly I practice believing that God will provide the increase (faith on their part). It is not easy to do since we get accustomed to rejection and defeat, and after a while it is all we expect anymore. So when I asked Theresa “how sure [she] was of going to heaven if life where to end today,” she replied “100%.” Could she have been saying that for my sake? I don’t know her heart, but she knew the promises of God and since every “good” Catholic is taught not to boast in their “presumption”, it was an abnormal statement for her to make! She left with several good, thorough Gospel tracts too. I pray she grows in the Gospel of Christ and shows fruits of repentance by never again trusting in her good works, praying prayers, confessing to a priest, etc.

Regarding Theresa’s testimony, I ran across this short explanation of what saving faith is like. It is from this quarter’s “Moments for You” periodical published by “Moments With the Book.”

“What is it to believe? It is the same thing that the Israelites did when in simple faith they accepted God’s Word, believed it to be true, and then looked to the brazen serpent on the pole. This simple faith in God’s provision is the way to salvation: “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:22).

The reason I found that so encouraging with regards to Theresa, is because I get flack sometimes for not leading people in a “sinner’s prayer” or telling them to “ask Jesus into their heart”, etc. Catholics like Theresa get told to do that all the time. They are told to pray for forgiveness to be saved and to accept Jesus into their heart every week with the mass. The Gospel of “salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone” gets lost on them due to our ignorance and our bad soul-winning habits. Theresa needed a clear view of Christ and to be given the promises necessary for her to believe in Christ and reject every other false way. By God’s grace she will continue to grow in this new-found faith. In the meantime, we need to be growing in the knowledge of the Gospel too, and strive to always present the clearest view of the Gospel that we ever can with each witness. By God’s grace we can do this because that is what God commissioned us to do.

Thank you praying friends!

Amen and Amen! The 2010 Oregon State Fair was a huge blessing in many ways. I’m so thankful to everyone that prayed for this event that God would bless. If sinners convicted, souls saved and soulwinners encouraged are any indicators of God’s blessing then blessed we are indeed!!! 

First, Bethel Baptist Church of Salem joined our team this year to make it a total of three dedicated Baptist churches helping at the AGM booth. Bethel Baptist was an encouragement to us for a number of reasons. For starters, they had just finished an extensive personal evangelism course called “The Way of The Master” publicized by evangelist Ray Comfort. I’m familiar with the Way of the Master program and believe that the principles that the program emphasizes are very important to understand when attempting Biblical marketplace evangelism. I especially noticed the spiritual enthusiasm present at the church training meeting that I conducted after their Wednesday night service. 

New Bethel Baptist Soulwinner

 On a related note, total volunteer participation went up a lot due to the flux of new helpers. In fact, I had the good problem of juggling schedule conflicts for several workers that over-booked. At a time when booth volunteers are scarce throughout much of the western states, I’m so thankful that we have an abundance of strong soulwinners in the Salem area—even though I had the unpleasant task of turning eager volunteers away.  

Packed-out Booth!

Bethel also joined us in sponsoring the state fair too which is a big answer to prayer. Currently the Oregon State Fair is locally sponsored by 50% which takes a large burden off of the AGM general fund. It was only several  years ago that the Oregon State Fair had no local sponsorship and my prayer request is that the state fair, like all the other fairs, be wholly financed, managed and staffed by local churches. 

Being There

Another blessing this year is that I didn’t have to manage the event! Rob Holm from Victory Baptist Church in Bend managed the state fair this year so that I could plug in as a normal helper part time. I’m thankful for those who pray for us when we are running the soul-winning booth full time. It doesn’t matter how “spiritual” you are, after several days of 12 hour shifts, you get weak on many levels. At any rate, as a part time helper I had several really neat encounters; so here are two of them. 

Adrianna volunteered at the booth for the first time this year and when she had her first visitors Shammika and Shanea, she asked me to sit with her to help. Shammika and Shanea are two sisters Belize (Central America) and had only been in the states for a couple of months and came down to the fair from the Portland area. While I was going through the verses with them I noticed that they had only a sketchy knowledge of Christ. Some things, like Christ’s sinlessness and our natural sinfulness, seemed to be very new to them. They carefully listened to all of the Scriptures and at the end when I asked them how sure they would be of going to heaven, Shanea confidently answered “100%!”; but Shammika said she was “still 50%.” They both gladly took Bibles and tracts and thanked me and Adrianna for showing them the scripture. 

Where do YOU fit in this picture?

Megan and Tyler were a young couple that appeared drawn to the booth without much of our aid. When I asked them if they wanted to know from the Bible how to be 100% sure of heaven, they contemplated it for a while and then Megan decidedly marched into the back and sat down, dragging Tyler with her. During our discussion, whenever Tyler balked at a particular Bible concept, Megan took the initiative to explain it to him in relatable and persuasive terms. As I wrapped up the session, with particular emphasis on our obligation to accept God’s gift of forgiveness by believing on Jesus alone, I used the “flower bouquet” analogy which goes something like this: “If you, Tyler, were to give a dozen red roses to Megan as a surprise gift one evening, and she rejected them because she ‘had her own rose bushes in the garden;’ you would be more than a little upset! In the same way, if we reject the gift of forgiveness through Christ alone because we would rather do our own thing or do it our own way; we ‘trample under foot the Son of God’ and ‘put him to an open shame,’ deserving full wrath of God.” I then emphasized that God gave us a free will to choose or reject Christ but that he commands us to choose Christ “while it is called today.” They were both visibly under conviction of the Holy Spirit at this thought. Megan then stated the she was raised in a private Catholic school and had “religion crammed down her throat” all the time, and when she graduated she promised herself that she would never again read the Bible or go back to anything religious or spiritual. This was the first time since her graduation that she had read the Bible or talked about God (she was in her late twenties). After taking a handful of literature, they lingered for some time in silence before slowly walking away. It was a very powerful moment. I felt like I should have said more but I didn’t know what would have been appropriate since they were so acutely aware of their responsibility. I pray that God grants them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth before it is too late. 

2010 OSF Fair Statistics: 

• 350,000 in attendance approximated
• At least 20 professions of faith
• Over 3000 coins distributed ~ ran out
• 1 New Church joined the AGM team for a total of 3

Until Next Year!

Lord willing, this is probably the last year that I will be helping Crosstimbers Baptist Church with their county fair. I’m excited that they feel confident enough to take on the responsibility but kind of sad that I won’t have an excuse to come down here and be with them. Jaqui Lee, one of the members that has been involved in the fair ministry from the very beginning, has volunteered to be the coordinator for next year. I’m working closely with her this year to pass off as much knowledge/training as I can. She has really stepped up to the plate and taken ownership which is encouraging. I pray that more churches would have the same burden for their local marketplaces (not just fairs but special events, parades, and you-name-it). Besides taking on the fair responsibility, they also offered to host me while I am here. That’s an even bigger challenge!

Thursday

Opening day is usually slow, but not this one! Our first volunteer crew saw two separate people make professions of faith in Christ. Besides that, we had many good conversations with people behind and in front of the booth.

One particular 20 year-old man that I spoke to broke my heart; his name was Andrew. He had his long, black hair tied back with a bandana headband and had a lip piercing that he fiddled with the whole time we talked. Both Jaqui and Cheryl tried talking to him about the Lord but he refused to accept anything the Bible said as true (because “after all, no one was there when it was written so how can we know it was written by God?”). Nevertheless, in spite of his hard heartedness, he was not rude and wanted to listen to what we had to say. He was very bitter about life and was desperately searching for answers but stubbornly refused to accept them from the Bible. Jaqui and Cheryl asked for me to help and so as I went through the 10 commandments with him I learned about his past and why he was so bitter. He never knew his mom, and his dad abandoned him when he was 8. Two of his brothers were killed by a drunk driver as they crossed the street and his remaining brother died of cancer recently. His dad finally committed suicide and now he’s the only one left in his immediate family. The purpose of his life story, he thought, was that he was hopeless: “If there was a God, he didn’t care much about me”. He thought that his circumstances were reason enough to disregard his personal responsibility to accept Christ. “I don’t have faith anymore; I can’t believe” he said. Realizing that his pride was at the root of his bitterness I finished going through all the commandments. Even though he “didn’t believe the Bible” he agreed that hatred is the same as murder and lust of the eyes is the same as adultery. After saying everything I could think of to say I remembered to ask him a question that I learned to ask at the California State Fair: “what would it take to believe in God?” Surprisingly he said, “when he answers my prayer.” I asked him what prayer he had for God and he said “to show me how to cope with the circumstances I’ve been through” (his life story above). Then I asked him the important question, “and how are you expecting God to reveal that to you?” He thought for a while and finally he said he didn’t know how. I asked him how he could say that he doesn’t believe in God when he puts God to a test that has no criteria. “You’re basically making it impossible!” I then asked him to let me show him the answer that the God of the Bible had for coping with his circumstances. He balked at first but let me read Matt 6:14 “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:” I told him that God’s answer to his problem is that he needs to forgive those who hurt him. “I can’t” he said. “Yes you can” I answered. “I can’t”, “you can,” I can’t”, “you can”, “I can forgive the doctor who treated my brother because he did the best he could but I can’t forgive that drunk drive and I can’t forgive my dad… I just can’t.” “Yes you can!” I couldn’t hold out any longer and I started crying right there in front of him. I loved the guy and saw that as bad as his life had been, the power to make it change 100% rested completely in his own hands. I grabbed him and told him that God never commands us to do anything that is impossible; “you need to turn to God and let him change everything.” He was a little shook up by my behavior but quietly mumbled “well, I guess anything’s possible” as he moved away. I cried and prayed for him for a long time. I firmly believe that God is going to do a miracle in his life. He said earlier that he attempted suicide four times and yet he is still here. Please pray for Andrew.

On a positive note, I had the opportunity to work with a young man who just got saved several weeks ago at the church camp. A lot of the church people knew this man’s rebellious past and were curious to see how he was going to do at the booth. As I reviewed the “plan of salvation” Bible verses with him I got to know a little bit about this testimony. He went to the church camp for the sole purpose of getting away from his family for a while and to have fun. He openly told everyone at the camp that he “was NOT going to get saved.” He was bitter at God for all of the problems that he was having in his life. He confessed that even when he was blaming God for everything wrong in his life that he knew in his conscience that it was his own fault that he had problems but he was too proud to accept the responsibility and so he shifted the blame on God. On one of the nights, the preacher preached on hard heartedness and God got a hold of his heart and convicted him. He went forward and talked with the counselors and made his profession of faith in Christ. He knew the Gospel because he heard it many times but was too proud to let go. As I finished going through the verses I could really tell that he “got it” and knew how to present the Gospel because it was fresh in his own mind. Even though he knew very little about the Bible (and had trouble pronouncing Bible words like “abominable” and “idolaters”) he knew Jesus and Him crucified! After going it over 2 more times I set him loose and I went on a break. When I came back he had a big smile on his face. He had just led a 42 year old man to the Lord! He was shaking because he was so excited. Amen? Amen!

Friday

When my home church, Salem Baptist Temple, did their Neighborhood Bible Time program, one of the evangelists used rope tricks to illustrate different aspects of the Gospel. I realized how beneficial that would be in the booth and on the street. I got into Klamath Falls early and decided to get some rope from the hardware store and practice my rope tricks. I looked them up on YouTube and found all of them plus a few more.  I decided to combine two of them together and use it to illustrate 2 Cor 5:21 “For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” I hope to post a YouTube video of it sometime but basically I transfer the knots on one rope to the other rope in single motion, just like our sins were put on Christ. Then I take out all the knots on the other rope in one motion to represent that Christ rose from the dead without sin and now intercedes for those that have believed on him. I have used it several times in front of the booth to keep the attention of those who would normally walk away.

There are a lot of Native Americans in Klamath Falls. I talked to one of them, Mark, about the Gospel and his personal responsibility to accept Christ. He was a Hoppi Indian and said that he respected Jesus and all of his teachings but couldn’t believe in Christ exclusively. I asked him if he believed that Jesus was a true man. He said he did and followed his teachings. I asked him why Jesus would say that he is the only way if he didn’t mean it. Was he lying? Was he a bigot? Of course not! Mark said, “I respect what you believe but if I rejected my family’s religion I will betray my people and I can’t do that.”

“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;” 2 Tim 2:25

One sharp-looking teenager, Preston, came up to the booth to look at the three doors despite the snickering of his peers. When I asked him how sure he would be of going to heaven he said “I’m not going to heaven, I’m going to paradise.” I had a flash back to the Utah State Fair last fall and got a hunch that he might be LDS. I asked him why he thought he was going to get to go to Paradise and he confidently said “because I keep the 10 commandments.” Wow! I went carefully through the 10 commandments and then asked him what he thought he was going to do on judgment day seeing that God had at least 10 reasons to punish his soul for all eternity. He smugly replied “I just need to repent.” Now I knew for sure that he was LDS. Without getting into the details of the Deity of Christ, I explained to him that Jesus was the only person to keep the law of God perfectly and that as such, his death on the cross is the only payment that satisfies God’s wrath. I explained how that according to Jn 3:16, “God gave his only begotten Son (Jesus) to himself to pay for your sin debt that you owed him. You no longer owe him anything except the obligation to receive His gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ alone. To reject Jesus Christ is reject forgiveness; and to stubbornly insist on paying for your own sins by Good works is to reject Jesus Christ. “ At that point it was like something clicked and he seemed to be in another world. He took my tract and thanked me for talking to him before he slipped back in with his snickering friends.

Just like Preston, lots of people from lots of religions cannot grasp the fact that God is not pleased with their own righteousness. They have to “do” something to make God happy with them. Alexa, another LDS girl, said that “salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ paying for our sins.” I asked her why she was LDS if she believed that. She responded with a typical Mormon doctrine: “you have to do the best you can and believe that Christ will pay the rest.” Jonathan came by the booth several times but I was busy with other people. On the 3rd time around I was not busy and he asked me what I was doing. I showed him the 3 doors and asked him about going to heaven. He said he wasn’t sure, “because I have a lot of repenting to do.” I asked him if he was LDS. He was surprised; “how did you know?” I started into the 10 commandments but half way through his parents came by and wanted him to leave.

On a positive note, I noticed a lady pitch a wad of cash into the “see who Jesus died for” box. I stopped her to find out why she did that. She said her husband, Stephen, was saved at our booth last year and was baptized and now attends church faithfully. I wanted to know more but she was in a hurry and it was really busy so I continued to talk to the people in front of the booth. Later, I got curious about the money and went to get it out but it was gone. Somebody must have thought that was free too.�  Easy come easy go I guess.

Some random observations about people here at the fair: 

• Very, very few people know what coveting means. I would say only about 1 in 20 people have a vague idea about it. Most people guess that it means murder… LOL
• Everybody wants to open the 3rd door first and go backwards. I don’t know why. It’s only happened at this fair.
• Families are the hardest to reach because they move as a group and always seem to have an agenda. Unfortunately, our booth is not on their agenda.

An old friend of ours from the Bay area, Constantine, came up yesterday and today to work at the booth. He has been a blessing to me. He said that he personally struggled with his conversion for 17 years because he couldn’t bring himself to believe that it was through faith in Christ alone plus nothing. He thought he had to do at least something. Having that load off his shoulders is really apparent as I watched him preach the Gospel of forgiveness through faith to all kinds of different people. He is praying about what he should do regarding being involved in this ministry in a greater way. Praise God for fellow laborers like him.

One more example from today, Katie and Elizabeth were dressed in gothic apparel and admitted to being “very bad.” They still wanted to listen and seemed interested until it came to the part about faith through Christ alone. Katie said she grew up in Catholic school and was “forced to believe in God.” Now that she was “free” she wanted to find God “for herself.” They asked me to prove that the Bible is true and that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. I gave them my standard explanations but nothing seemed to convince them. In spite of their hard appearance, I felt that they were still somewhat genuine in their desire for truth. Please pray for them that they truly “seek the while he may be found” and not follow that “way which seemeth right unto a man.”

Thank you for praying for more workers! Two volunteers came today from Regency Baptist Church to relieve Dad and I so we could go home early. Also, an old friend of mine is coming up from the Bay area tomorrow and Saturday to help at the booth. Several other people have tentatively signup as well. When we left the booth today, both of the volunteers were busy in conversations within minutes of getting settled in. Amen!

Today I talked to 3 teens that were from Elk Grove. They said they “didn’t have any religion” but wanted to know about God for themselves. One of them, Leah, said that her friend Lauren was always trying to “convert” her to Christianity and throughout the conversation she would say things like “oh yeah, Lauren tells me that too…”  Their mother converted to Judaism but their father is Catholic; however, something happened and both parents quit being anything. They were so confused about everything and had a lot of questions, but they wanted to know only what the Bible said about them. After a while the dad came by and wanted them to leave but they begged to stay longer, so he went on somewhere else. A half hour later he came back again and said “man, as long as you all have been in here I thought you would be converted and baptized!” It was a refreshing experience compared to the disinterest and impatience that everyone shows. Pray for Joey, Beka and Leah that the watering that Lauren and I have done would bear fruit someday… sooner than later.

The Calvinists have been really forward at this fair. I can’t remember another fair I’ve been at in the past where they have actually come to me and tried to start a conversation about the importance of reformed doctrine. It’s happen to both dad and I several times. With the hardness of Californian’s hearts, it’s tempting to give up and think “God will just have to deal with it” and quit preaching the Gospel. I’ve been encouraged by the verse in I Timothy2:4: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Paul uses this verse to explain why it’s important to pray for all men, because God’s will is that all men be saved. So if God wants all men to be saved, I can obey the great commission in full confidence knowing that when I preach the Gospel to every creature I haven’t wasted my time on any “un-elect” people. In fact, as far as my job is concerned, God is no respecter of persons and there are no “un-elect” people in my life.

Here are some random pictures from the last couple of days. I don’t feel like arranging them in any artistic order…

Jon warned me that the people here are impatient but I was not expecting it to be quite this bad. The maximum time that most interested people give us is 5 minutes. That’s just about enough time to get to or halfway through the law. Because the state fair is so big and there is so much to see, people are naturally cautious about spending all of their time in one place, especially a Bible booth. They want to see everything by the time they are done for the day. So even though there are gobs of people going by and looking at the display, it’s hard to stop them for a serious conversation.

Despite these odds, several people listened to the Gospel with open hearts. Salina [14] was with her aunt who is a professed Christian and 100,000% sure of going to heaven, but she was only 50% sure.  She was very quiet as we went through the 10 commandments, and coming from a Catholic background, she didn’t know that forgiveness was in Christ alone, not confession. A large Ukrainian group went by and 5 or 6 of the younger teen girls stopped to listen. The oldest of them said that she had 17 brothers and sisters! She said she was a Christian and kept the 10 commandments. When she saw that she hadn’t kept any of the 10 commandments it was a surprise to her, as if she never actually knew what the commandments said. As I was explaining to her that the law was given to show us how much we need Christ, her folks came and said it was time to go. They all took tracts and said they were glad they stopped.

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” I Ti 2:5. Because they don’t have faith in Christ yet, people naturally want to make other people in their lives their mediators. The Catholic Church is infamous for exploiting that weakness in men, via the confessional, but it is not just a Catholic thing, it’s an unbelieving heart thing. As evangelists we have to be careful that we view our role correctly and not let the unbelief in people’s hearts put us in a position where they look at us as mediators and expect us to give them salvation or assurance of salvation. Our task is to show people where they stand according to God’s holy law and give them every reason to seek the person of Christ right now. “They that seek me early shall find me…” [Pro 8:17].

I like how John Bunyan described the role of the evangelist in Pilgrim’s Progress. This character is mentioned three times: first at the beginning when he warns Christian to flee the city of destruction and go to the wicket gate, second when he finds Christian detoured by Worldy Wise Man and he rebukes him and sends him back to the wicket gate, and third when he finds Christian and Faithful on the road to Vanity Fair and he encourages them to be true even till death. At the CA state fair, we find ourselves playing the second role of the evangelist a lot because people have heard so many false gospels that they are no longer seeking the person of Christ by way of the narrow gate (faith in Christ alone through grace alone). They want to go some other way, and we have to warn them that “there is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death…” [Pro 14:12]. Here is the excerpt from Pilgrim’s progress that I think is so apt to our situation:

Then said Evangelist, “Stand still, that I may show these the words of God.” So he stood trembling. Then said Evangelist, “God says in His book, ‘See that ye refuse not him that speaketh; for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven.’ ” He also did thus apply them: “Thou are the man that art running into misery; thou hast begun to reject the counsel of the Most High.”

Then Christian fell down at his feet as dead, crying, “Woe is me, for I am undone!”

Then Evangelist caught him by the right hand, saying, “Be not faithless, but believing.” Then did Christian a little revive, and stood by trembling as at first before Evangelist.

Evangelist:  I will now show thee who it was that led thee astray, and who it was also to whom he sent thee. That man that met thee is one Worldly Wiseman; and rightly is he so called; partly because he seeks only for the things of this world (therefore he always goes to the town of Morality to church), and partly because he loveth that way best, for it saveth him from the Cross.

He to whom thou wast sent for ease, Legality by name, is not able to set thee free from thy burden. No man was as yet ever rid of his burden by him; no, nor ever is like to be. You cannot be set right by any such plan. Therefore, Mr. Worldly Wiseman is an enemy, and Mr. Legality is a cheat; and for his son, Civility, notwithstanding his simpering looks, he is but a fraud and cannot help thee. Believe me, there is nothing in all this noise that thou hast heard of these wicked men, but a design to rob thee of thy salvation, by turning thee from the way in which I had set thee.

After this, Evangelist called aloud to the heavens for proof of what he had said; and there came words and fire out of the mountain under which poor Christian stood. The words were these: “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.”

Now, Christian looked for nothing but death, and began to cry out, calling himself a thousand fools for listening to Worldly Wiseman. Then he said to Evangelist:

Christian:  Sir, what think you? Is there any hope? May I now go back, and go up to the wicket-gate? I am sorry I have hearkened to this man’s counsel; but may my sins be forgiven?

Evangelist:  Thy sin is very great, for by it thou hast committed two evils; thou hast forsaken the way that is good, to tread in forbidden paths. Yet will the man at the gate receive thee, for he has good will for men. Only take heed that thou turn not aside again, lest thou perish.

Then Christian went back to the right road; and Evangelist, after he had kissed him, gave him one smile, and bade him godspeed. So he went on with haste, speaking not to any man by the way. He went like one that was all the while treading on forbidden ground, and could by no means think himself safe, till again he was got in the way which he had left to follow Mr. Worldly Wiseman’s counsel.

We pulled into Sacramento around 6pm yesterday and got a little taste of the rush hour traffic. Other than that, our trip was safe and uneventful.

One of the church members has graciously allowed us to use his RV. It’s quite cozy and convenient. RV owners don’t realize how much of a blessing they can be by just parking their RV at their church and letting traveling ministry workers have a safe and quiet place to stay.

I met Jon at the booth last night before closing and he gave me the quick tour. He has been working mostly alone this past week and was relieved to have some time to recuperate before starting up the Clark County Fair next week. He will be driving back to Oregon/Washington today.

Local church support and participation for the California State Fair is way down this year. Several of the peripheral churches that sent a few volunteers last year did not have any showing at all this year; and the main supporting church, Regency Baptist Church in Orangevale, has a lot on their plate this month. Here is what our volunteer sign-up sheet looks like for this week:

LOL!

Dad and I prayed about this week and we are looking forward to what God can do. We were both encouraged with a sermon we listened to by Dr. E Mac Johnson titled “Is there a need to call upon the Lord?” from Romans 10:13. What encouraged us is that the preaching of the Gospel is simply proclaiming what God has done for fallen man, giving man something substantial to believe. It is simple but not easy. Through God’s enabling, we aim to do that this week.

Hello praying friends,

As of next week, the 2010 fair season will officially start for me and I’m desperately needing your prayers and support! Evangelism is not something you turn on or off (I stay faithful to my church outreach program and various public ministry events around Salem during the off season) but fair season is harvest season. There are marketplaces all over the country all throughout the year but none so plenteous and deserving of a Gospel witness as the fairs. That is why I look forward to this time of year so much.

On a side note, I wanted to share some highly recommended reading sources that have been a huge blessing to me as I get ready for this year’s events (see my schedule on the “schedule” tab at the top).

The Pain and Pleasure of Forgiveness: The late Dr. E Mac Johnson is a Pastor with a heart for Biblical evangelism and he writes with the experience and love that makes the Gospel as clear and wonderful as it truly is. I consider this a “must-read” for anyone serious about serving the Lord full-time. The doctrines of Salvation or relavently and clearly presented.

A Pastor’s Sketches: This book was written in 1851 and is amazingly relevant to the kind of problems soulwinners encounter when dealing with anxious sinners one-on-one. I should point out that Dr. Spencer is an old-school Presbyterian and his doctrine concerning baptism in one of the stories reveals his Presbyterian views; but otherwise it is a wonderful collection of detailed conversations with lost people and how the Word of God, sharper than any two edged sword, cuts to the heart of the unbeliever and propels them to believe on Jesus. Amazing… I wish biographies like these were more popular than the watered down, man-centered junk that gets promoted in our day.

The Heresy of the Sinner’s Prayer: “Whoa! That’s a bit strong…” you might think, but what the author means is that there are people who are actively trusting in their prayer of salvation to save them, even as they go to hell not knowing anything about the Gospel. That’s a false hope! Robert Breaker admits that this is his most-hated book, but if you REALLY believe that eternal souls are at stake, I would think you would sure want to make certain that you not telling them the wrong thing and read this book. Please read it with an open heart and mind and consider what the Bible is saying, not tradition.

Each year the Lord puts a special burden on my heart for what I need to emphasize when I’m given pulpit time at the churches I go to. Last year’s theme was prayer, and I learned a lot about prayer. This year is integrity: preaching the truth of the pure Gospel straightforward and without compromise in spite of the pressures of the world, peers and yourself. If there’s not enough time to do it right the first time, why should we think there’s going to be more time to correct it later? I’m praying that the Lord will allow me to be an encouragement to Pastors, church members, new believers and budding evangelists this summer while I’m on the road.

Please pray for me in the following areas:

• Discipline and patience to explain the Gospel how the Holy Spirit directs
• Safety traveling to the various fairs
• Funding for the materials used and other expenses incurred when traveling
• Protection from the spiritually degrading environments at the fairs: immodest women, rock music, contesting false doctrines, physical fatigue
• Encouragement

Lord willing, my goal is to keep this blog updated daily with reports from the field. Please check back often and may God bless you for co-labouring with me in prayer.

Allen Cox,
Amazing Grace Mission

“For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s” Php 2:21.

People are stuck on themselves. Anything that gets us what we want, the we way want it, must work; or so we think. This is the biggest obstacle to Biblical repentance I see anywhere, and Utahans are no exception to the rule. The sinister history of Joseph Smith’s cult leaves no shadow of doubt that Mormonism is demonically inspired, but wild visions and chilling revelations alone have no power over man’s heart; there must be something in it for the self Accordingly, a good Mormon gets it all: membership in the best fraternity organization in the world, promises of every egocentric dream-come-true in the next life and bragging rights to every achievement along the way there. The only hiccup is man’s conscience of God, so the words of God must be redefined, and word #1 is repentance.

At the Utah State Fair we could immediately tell a Mormon by their answer to our famous question: “how sure would you be of going to heaven percentage wise?” They would either ask “which one?” or say something about repentance. To a Mormon, repentance means to stop committing sins and is a requirement to enter heaven. Not only that, but there are three different levels of heaven, and how much you “repent” determines which heaven you go to. Therefore, in so many words, they believe that good works get you into heaven. Repentance morphed from a humble relationship of grace with God to a self-managed contract brokered with God. During one of my breaks from the booth I browsed through the art exhibits and saw this painting that depicted the Mormon idea of repentance very well, and in fact was titled “repentance.”

God’s provision for Salvation is so opposite to man’s plan of salvation. God’s Salvation is a perfect and priceless gift from Him that cannot be earned, compelling all those who receive it through faith to be eternally grateful to Him. Man’s plan of salvation is a salvage job, the specifications for which vary based on the individual’s “ability” but regardless of the pathetic outcome, the creator is entitled to his creation and praises self for it. Further though, the means is equally important to God as the end. His Salvation is by grace and through faith. When the unconverted chance upon the story of Christ’s free (priceless) payment for sins, it is only natural for covetous self to want heaven and lazy self to believe that no action is required. Yet the command is to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Prideful self doesn’t mind fulfilling a list of requirements and calling them achievements, but a complete surrender of self and soul to the (faithful) hands of God? No thanks!

So it is no wonder that Mormonism, and all religions like it, has such a hold over men. It is their self that has a hold over them and Mormonism is the highest bidder. Marketing the Christian faith as a set of beliefs that appeals more to self than Mormonism does is an easy but disgusting trap to fall into. God doesn’t participate in auctions. God is love. Love is self-less.

1Jn 4:16 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

3500 Smiles distributed
42 Professions of Faith
4 Happy Booth Workers
1 Long Week

Praise God!