"And others save with fear, pulling
them out of the fire..."
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December 15, 2006 - Matt, JK and Jerry were already there when I arrived at the Mall-St. Matthews Food Court at 6:30pm. Not long after that, some of the youth from New Vision Ministry Center showed up. Among them were Jamie, John, Matthew, Natalie, Nate and Will. Mark arrived right at 7:00pm. We prayed, gave out tracts and Mark, Jerry and Matt headed out into the mall. I stayed and talked with the rest of the group to go over some "Mall Witnessing Etiquette" with them. I teamed up JK, Nate and Natalie on one team and Jamie, John, Matthew and Will on another. I was mainly walking around observing the teams to see how they were doing and stopping by from time-to-time to encourage them. Of course, I did multiple One-2-Ones as well. A few funny anecdotes: There three rocking chairs in a sitting area and one guy sitting on the left and one guy sitting on the right. I walked right up to them and said, "Hey, is anyone sitting here?" and sat down in the middle chair. I pulled out a Million Dollar bill and offered it to the guy to my right. He looked at it and looked at me, but didn't take it so I offered it to the guy on my left who chuckled and took it. The guy on my right said that he felt like he was in the middle of a drug deal. We all three laughed! I pulled another Million out and gave to the guy on my right who now gladly accepted it. As I was about to get the "witnessing ball" rolling both of their cell phones were blowing up. They both got up and had to leave so I told them to be sure and read the "Million Dollar question" on the back. They said that they would and they stepped off. A little later I was by the Abercrombie and Fitch store and noticed the picture in the store entrance of a man with a "slim and trim" physique. I stepped into the store and asked one of the associates where I could pick up my royalties check. He gave me a perplexed look and I said, "Yeah, they told me that I could just stop by the store and pick up my royalty check. You see, they are using my torso and have cut and pasted another guy's head onto my body and I receive royalties for that." He started cracking up and I, of course, told him that I was just kidding. I gave him a Million Dollar bill and told him to check out the back and walked out of the store. Finally, I was near the main fountain display by JC Penny talking with the New Vision youth to see how they were doing. I joking told them, "Well, I'm going to go on over here and do a One-2-One." As I walked over towards the benches I noticed a couple sitting down. I approached them with a Million Dollar bill and told them that I was asking people a very unusual, but important question, "Will you go to Heaven when you die?" At that very moment Chris received a phone call. In the awkwardness of the moment, I decided to go ahead with the conversation. I introduced myself and found out her name was Holland and his name was Chris. After Chris got off of the phone I caught him up on the conversation. It wasn't too surprising to find out that both Holland and Chris thought all that was necessary to go to Heaven was to "live right and be a good person". They both thought that they were on their way to Heaven. I spent the next 10-15 minutes correcting their understanding of how someone can go to Heaven. I was also doing some "damage recovery" of what had more than likely been done by the preaching of the "Modern Gospel" message that Chris and Holland had more than likely heard. At the end of the conversation, Chris and Holland understood that if they were to die that night, that they would spend eternity in Hell according to the Bible. At that moment, grace truly became "amazing" as I told them they couldn't be "good enough" or do anything to gain everlasting life, but they must repent and believe. They would need to trust in what the Savior, Jesus Christ did and said. I asked them to please consider what we had talked about. I gave them an "Are You Good Enough To Go To Heaven" tract and thanked them for talking to me. It was almost 8:45pm so I decided to head back towards the Food Court. Everyone met back up and we talked for a few minutes about our experiences that evening, prayed and then left the mall thanking Him for the opportunity to be faithful. December 8-10, 2006 - We were at the KFEC Christmas Show, talked to LOTS of people and handed out over 5,000 Gospel Tracts. More to come!!! December 1, 2006 - Danny, Jerry and Matt traveled down to Atlanta, GA for the Way of the Master Transformed conference. Stacie, Emily, Sara and I headed out around 6:00pm to meet the rest of the team at the Mall St. Matthews at 6:30pm. When we arrived at the mall Daniel and a new Seed Sower (to us), Kristina were there to greet us. Not long afterwards Mark, Jill, Jillian and JK showed up. I decided to head down to the Food Court to get us a table where we could pray and give tracts to the team while the rest of the team waited for Sylvester to show up. Around 7:20pm we all sat in the Food Court, prayed, grabbed tracts, teamed up and headed out. Sylvester, JK and Daniel formed one team while Mark, Kristina and I formed another. As we walked away from the table to converge on the mall, I noticed a man sitting at a table at the edge of the Food Court. I immediately approached him and laid a Christmas Cash tract on the table and asked him, "Did you get one of these?" He said that he hadn't. I introduced myself and found out his name was John as well! I told him that I was also asking people a very unusual, but important question, "What do you think happens when you die?" He told me that he thought that he was going to go to Heaven. I asked him why as I took a seat at the table. He told me that he was Catholic and that he had done a lot of in his life. I proceeded to ask him if he thought he was good enough to go to Heaven. He said that he thought so. I then proceeded to ask him if he thought he had kept the Ten Commandments. He said, "Most of them." As I began to ask him, Kristina pulled up a chair at a table next to us with her back to us so she could hear the conversation. I asked him about the ninth, eighth, third and seventh. He admitted that he had broken all of those. I explained James 2:10 to him and told him that there were still six more that we hadn't talked about. I asked him if he would be innocent or guilty before God when he dies. He initially said, "Innocent!" I told him that "innocent" didn't make any sense. I asked him if he went into a store, committed armed robbery, was caught on camera, stood before a judge and said, "I'm innocent." The judge, if he was good, would have to tell you that you're crazy and send you to prison. He said that the scenario made sense and he would be guilty. I asked him where he would spend eternity based on being guilty. He said, "Hell." I asked him if that concerned him. He thought about it for a moment and said, "Yes, it does concern me." I then shared the "Good News" with him. I told him that he did not have to be with someone or at someplace special to cry out to God in repentance and then put his faith in trust in Jesus Christ...he could even do that at the mall. I told him to please consider what we had talked about, shook his hand, thanked him and walked over towards another group of teens near the Hot Topic store and began a One2One with them. Afterwards I talked with Kristina to see if she had any questions or comments about what she had heard so far. We talked for a few minutes about the recent One2Ones. As we were talking, four teens walked by; three girls and one guy. I immediately stopped them by asking them if they had gotten a Christmas Cash tract yet. They hadn't so I began a One2One conversation with them. The guy immediately professed that he was an Atheist and didn't care much for our conversation. I continued talking to the three teens as he continued to walk back forth in the immediate area hopefully overhearing bits and pieces of our conversation. One of the teens had a Christian background in the Baptist church, but said that she had not been to church since she moved to Louisville to attend college at U of L. One of the other girls showed a strong interest in what I was saying so I gave them both a challenge. I told the college student to find a solid Baptist church and faithfully attend it. Furthermore, I challenged the other girl to attend church with the college student. They said that they would. I thanked them for talking to me and I was about to turn my attention towards the Atheist, when I noticed that Kristina had already began to talk to him. She had begun giving him the "Painting-Painter, Building-Builder, Creation-Creator" example, but he immediately cut her off. I tried to jump in, but he cut me off as well. We wisely left the situation alone as not to draw attention to ourselves. I told Kristina that we might have "pulled" him a little bit more if we had been out on the streets. I told her not to be discouraged, but to rejoice that she had faithfully opened her mouth for Jesus Christ! We did a few more One2Ones before we met back at the Food Court at 8:30pm. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the Food Court and talked until around 9:00pm. Just after 9:00pm Sylvester, JK, Stacie, Emily, Sara and I headed to the Stonybrook theater to watch the 9:40pm showing of The Nativity Story. Kristina and Daniel had to leave and Mark, Jill and Jillian had already seen the movie. We had a great time and the movie was great! We handed out many tracts at the movie theater. We are so grateful that God gives us the opportunities He does to be faithful in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. |