November 2007

"And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire..."

November 30, 2007 - It was a blustery day as my daughter Emily and I jumped in my car at 6:00pm and headed out to pick up Sylvester. Our ultimate destination was the Mall St. Matthews to meet the rest of the team for another bout of mall witnessing. We picked Sylvester up and headed to the mall. We arrived at the mall at 6:45pm and headed to the Food Court. As we arrived at the Food Court, we ran into some old friends of ours, Rachel and Delia having dinner. More to come!!!

November 23, 2007 - I was awakened by my alarm at 4:15am and hopped out of bed to silence the annoying "beep". I left my house at 4:25am and headed out into the 28° weather toward the Outer Loop Best Buy where I knew that there would be lots of people standing in the "Black Friday" lines. I felt that I had "over-prepared" by bringing 1,500 of the "CHRISTmas Cash" tracts, but figured that it was better to be "safe than sorry" when it comes to these things. I also brought the step-stool, so we could Open Air like we did last year.

I arrived at the pre-determined meeting location at 4:45am and noticed the line had stretched from the front of Best Buy and ended at the end of the building in front of T.J. Maxx. This line was not as long as it was last year, but there was still plenty of people. No one else from the team had shown up yet and I felt I had to get to started handing out tracts before the stores opened and the people "got away". I figured that I probably was not going to get a chance to Open Air since no one from the team had arrived and left the step-stool in the car. I grabbed 600 tracts and headed towards the front of the line.

As I began handing out tracts, the people in the front of the line were getting very excited and just about knocking each other out of the way to get one of the tracts. Obviously, they thought it was some sort of coupon or something! I continued to move down the line as people eagerly took the tracts. People were constantly asking me, "What is this for? Is it real? What's this all about?" Of course, I would respond with, "It's CHRISTmas Cash...a million dollar bill...read the back, it has some important information that you'll want to know." I knew that the store would open soon so I continued to move down the line trying to beat the clock. One person exclaimed, "Can I redeem this inside?" I responded, "No, but it does talk about redemption!"

Around the half-way point of the line, Mark True had arrived and called me to ask me where I was located. I told him that I was about mid-line and to come on over. He met me and I handed him two packs of tracts and I told him to go hit the end of the line and work towards the middle. We both continued to hand out tracts and the line began to move...the store had finally opened. We handed tracts to the last people in the moving line as Mark and I met as we worked our way towards each other. We proceeded to walk to the end of the line again asking who had not received their "CHRISTmas Cash" yet. Another 20-30 people had already jumped into the end of the line since Mark had started at what used to be the end of the line. We handed tracts to those at the "new" end of the slow-moving line and headed towards our cars. We had handed out almost 600 tracts in about 30 minutes or so!

We decided to not break tradition and head to Jerry's restaurant for a cup of coffee. Mark and I were enjoying our coffee when Danny called around 5:30am to let us know that he overslept, but was still going to join us. Danny arrived and we all three sat around the table and talked until a little after 7:00am. We all headed home to get rested up for this evening's Light Up Louisville event at 7:00pm. We thank God for the opportunity to spread his "Good News"!!

The team headed back out to the streets at 7:00pm for the "Light Up Louisville" event downtown. Phillip, Jerry, Danny and I met at the corner of S 6th and W Jefferson St, prayed and began to hand out tracts to the crowd of thousands of people. Danny and Jerry went in one direction and Phillip and I in another. There was literally a sea of people, it was amazing. At 7:30pm they "flipped the switch" and the millions of lights lit up and fireworks began to burst in the air. We went from walking around with little light to everything being illuminated. It was awesome! It was not long after the lights were lit and the fireworks ended that people began to stream out in all directions towards their cars. We took advantage of this and stood at the main areas and handed out tracts as fast as we could. People were flocking to the tracts. People were literally holding up the flow of pedestrian traffic as they were stopping to get the tracts. After the main flow of pedestrian traffic died down, Phillip and I headed back out into the street in front of city hall to continue to hand out tracts. Danny called me and said that they were, once again, out of tracts. I met Danny and Jerry and loaded them up with more tracts. I went back and rejoined Phillip and we handed out all but a few our tracts. At 8:30pm we went back and met with Danny and Jerry. We all prayed and thanked God for the opportunity to be a witness and a "light" in this dark world. Phillip had to head home, but Jerry, Danny and I headed to the Denny's at Crittenden Dr and Eastern Pkwy. Danny's family, Robin, Katie and Matt met us there and we ate and fellowshipped.

I wasn't exactly sure how many tracts that we gave out, so I went home and counted what we had left. We ended up handing out 2,900 tracts at during "Light Up Louisville" and 600 tracts during the "Black Friday" lines for a total of 3,500 tracts in one day....THAT'S CRAZY!

November 19, 2007 - My church, Trinity Chapel, teamed up with a local ministry called "River City Love Squad" (RCLS) and Grace Hope Presbyterian Church this evening from 6:30pm - 9:00pm on S Clay across from Baker Ct in downtown Louisville.

I must admit that I have typically shied away from this ministry due to their seemingly unbalanced approach to evangelism with a focus on love without mentioning repentance. (By the way, if I overlooked "repentance" on this page, just let me know and I will remove my comments.) While I disagree with the Biblical soundness of their message, I have always had an appreciation for the fact that they are making an effort to help those in need with food and clothes.

My family and I headed to the meeting location and were pleasantly surprised to see many members of our congregation attending the event. Around 50-75 people in need had already gathered at the tables that were setup. I was part of the "Prayer Team" and was quickly equipped with an orange vest. My wife went to help out with the food distribution and my two daughters were going to help with blanket distribution. I began to talk with some of the homeless people at the tables prior to everything starting. I introduced myself, shook their hands and thanked them for coming.

I was standing away from the tables having a conversation when a 28-year old homeless man that went by "Nuke 'Em" walked up beside. I said hello to him and immediately thought that he was with RCLS. I asked him if he was with RCLS and he told me that he wasn't and that he was homeless. This was amazing! This guy just walked right up to me and started a conversation with me. Talk about divine appointments! As I began to ask "Nuke 'Em" various questions to find out his background and where he stood with Christianity, he began to expound about his horrific childhood and his criminal record. I was immediately tempted to explain to him that "God had a 'wonderful' plan for his life and if you will only say a quick prayer then..." The voice sounded like something straight from someone's uncle Wormwood. I shook that off and asked him if he considered himself to be a "good person". He immediately said that he thought he was good, but if he died right now he wouldn't go to heaven. I took him through the Law and then to the cross. I told him that this conversation was no accident and asked him what was stopping him from repenting and putting his faith and trust in Jesus Christ. He said he wasn't sure, but that he wasn't ready to serve Him now. I explained that if his eyes met mine on the Day of Judgment that I would be free from guilt as I had explained the truth. It was approaching 7:00pm and I heard our worship leader, Pastor Israel, begin the praise and worship music. I shook his hand and he went and stood over next to a building waiting for the service to start.

After a few worship songs, our Men's Ministry leader, Johnny Carrier, was introduced and stepped before the microphone to deliver what God had laid on his heart. Johnny said that he was going to be preaching from Luke 16. I knew it was going to be a powerful message and was excited! Johnny preached the message with fire, zeal and conviction. Johnny was preaching about how breaking God's Law is sin. He was asking people in the audience if they had ever lied, stolen, etc. Many of them actually raised their hands!!! I must admit that at some moments it sounded like he was preaching right from "The Way of the Master" book. I thought that was great, but some apparently didn't think so. I had a few people come up to me and say, "Well, you sure have him trained well...Boy, that sounds like exactly what's in that book you gave me, etc." I was thinking, "Yeah, what he's preaching is in THE BOOK and you ought to check it out. It's called "Biblical Evangelism", not some man-made, "feel good" message." I was surprised, but yet rejoicing that the Gospel, in fact, was being preached. The only issue I had, which was minute in comparison, was the fact that he used Revelation 3:20 as a text for getting saved. You know the one that is often used for "asking Jesus into your heart"? "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." If you look at this in the context of the chapter, He is not speaking to the unsaved. As a matter of fact, He is speaking to the church, which are ALL believers! I'm not really sure how it has gotten skewed to be used as a text for salvation. Again, I know where the intent was and where Johnny was coming from. He did a phenomenal job and God used him mightily! Many people came up for prayer for various reasons.

After I finished praying with a few people, I turned in my prayer vest and turned my attention over to the back of the used bread truck that my daughters, Emily and Sara, were in helping to hand out blankets to the homeless people. As I approached the back of the truck I heard a homeless man saying to my oldest daughter, "No, not that one, no that one, no not that one..." I hopped in the back of the truck and said, "Which one did you want again?" My girls got him his blanket and blankets for many others that evening. I think this experience was the most impacting for them during this outreach.

After our church handed out many clothes, served food, gave out eyeglasses and preached the Gospel, we began breaking everything down. I helped the RCLS Director, Joe McGrew load up chairs into the used Rainbow bread truck. We loaded the last of the tables into the back of Joe's pickup truck and drove over to the church and unloaded them into the basement of the church. I walked back over to my family and we jumped in the car and headed back home.

On the way home I asked them what they thought about this evening, especially handing out the blankets. They said, "Well, we were just handing out blankets to those people." I asked them if they realized that many, if not all, of those people were homeless and that they needed those blankets to keep warm. To keep warm from the elements because they would most likely not be sleeping in a cozy bed this evening as we would, but would be sleeping in a ditch, a culvert or under a viaduct tonight. There was no reply, no response, only silence. As we continued home we prayed for the people that we had the privilege of serving and gave thanks to God for the enormous, abundant blessings He had given us...most of all...salvation.

November 16, 2007 - I pulled into the parking lot of Highland Chiropractic at 6:30pm and saw Phillip's car, but I didn't see Phillip. I got out of my car and was immediately reminded of the chilly 42° air. I had just gotten over a head cold on Wednesday and was wondering if I should even be out in the elements. I thought for a moment, "Yeah, it's a little chilly out here. As a matter of fact, I could use some gloves! However, I was quickly reminded that it's actually very hot in the place that those will go without hearing the Gospel and repenting!" I looked around a little bit more for Phillip and spotted him across the street in front of Ear X-Tacy. He was already in a One-2-One with two twenty-something guys. I took one picture from across the street and took another picture once I was across the street.

After he finished witnessing to the guys we greeted each other and prayed. As soon as we finished praying there were two teenage girls standing next to the building within feet of us. I did an about face and handed them two tracts and was instantly engaged in a 20 minute One-2-One conversation. I remember that they both understood that they would end up in hell because they had broken God's Law and were concerned. One of the girls had went to Catholic school her entire life, but was now in public school. I asked her if she knew what Jesus did so that no one would have to end up in hell. She said that she did and proceeded to explain. We talked for a few more minutes and I pleaded with them to think about what we talked about and repent of their sins. Phillip was also sharing the Gospel with another man.

The music from the band inside Ear X-Tacy continued to blare as we hovered in the same area handing out tracts to those passing by and striking up One-2-Ones when we could and were intermittently discussing the falsehood of the "Great Awakening" tour that was supposedly hitting the Louisville area and sweeping up well-meaning Christians in its "laughing" path. Knowing their methods (a / b), the "soul counter" numbers that were being proclaimed were not impressive, but rather scary in a "False Conversion-y" kind of way. Anyways...No one else from the team had shown up, but Mark said that he was going to be there. I gave Mark a call and left a voice message to let him know that we weren't going to set up a table, but Phillip and I were going to be on the move.

Phillip and I headed northbound on Bardstown Rd and decided to take a quick bathroom pit stop at Qdoba's. As we were coming out of Qdoba's there were three girls walking by and I handed them all tracts and continued to walk with them up to the corner of Bardstown Rd and Eastern Parkway. At the corner I asked them what they thought happens after death. As the light changed and we crossed the street and had a quick exchange of ideas. One of the girls was pulling the other along and saying, "it's all a lie...you just die and that's it!" I asked her, "What if you are wrong? Don't you think that you should be sure? What if you could know for sure?" She continued to walk and I told the other girl who was lingering a bit and listening to be sure and read the tract I gave her for more info. Phillip and I stopped as we got to the other side to let them go on down the sidewalk.

As we stopped and talked for a minute near a bus stop, I extended a tract to the man and his female friend and he said that he already had one. I looked at him with a perplexed look and said, "really"? His name was Jared. Jared proceeded to tell me that he got one on the U of L campus a few weeks ago (I was on the campus Nov 7 see below). I asked him if he had a chance to read it. He said that he did. I asked him where he thought he was going to spend eternity and he immediately said, "hell". I was taken aback because this is not the typical response. He said that he had some people in his family that were Christians so he knew about what the Bible said. "Said about what?" I replied. "Well, I'm gay and I know the Bible says that I'll go to hell." I told him that we were going to take the issue of homosexuality and set on the shelf for a moment. I then began to take him through the Law/Ten Commandments and he admitted to be guilty of lying, stealing and using God's name in vain. I explained that just on those things alone he has violated the Law of the Lord and we be found guilty and sentenced to hell on the Judgment Day if he died in his sins, but that there was Good News! I explained that God is not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. I explained Jesus' birth, sinless life, the cross (payment for sin), resurrection (our hope), ascension and soon return. I explained that he must repent and believe and place his faith and trust in Jesus Christ to save him. About that time a young man named Brian, who was waiting on a T.A.R.C. bus, walked into the middle of our conversation. He was trying to talk with Jared and I told him that we would be finished with our conversation in just a second. He then asked me if I was preaching to Jared and if I was a preacher. I told him that I was telling Jared the "Good News", but I did not hold the official "office" of a pastor, but I was a "minister of reconciliation". He apologized for interrupting and stepped away from our conversation. I spoke with Jared for a few more minutes and told him to think about what we had talked about.

I turned my attention towards Brian and noticed that Phillip had struck up a conversation with another gentleman on the other side of the bus stop. I asked Brian if he had a Christian background and he said that he did, but didn't consider himself a Christian. He told me that he had just been fired from his job because he got into a fight at work and had been drinking. I listened to him for about fifteen minutes or so and then began to go through the Law with him and was presenting grace when Brian stopped me. He said, "You know, I've had a bad day and I'm not really sure if I want to talk about this and I was feeling a bit angry and violent today and I think that if we continue talking..." I said, "What, are you going to give me the beat down? You think you can take me (he began sizing me up)? I boxed a bit in my teens, spent nine years in the Marine Corps and was a Close Combat Instructor for the Corps. I'm about 250lbs of pure fun. What do think?" Obviously, I was saying all this in jest, but if you could have seen the look on his face! He said, "I'm not sure if I want to try you." I was trying to choke back my laughter as I'm sure he was thinking, "Wait a minute, this guy was just talking to me about Jesus Christ and now he's talking about scrapping with me? Something doesn't quite fit here!" I had to let him off the hook NOW! I reached up with my left arm and patted him on the shoulder and let out a big laugh and told him that I was just messing with him. A sudden look of relief came across his face and I explained that I was so out of shape that he was the one that would have probably given me the "beat down". I said, "Look at me, I'm about 6 months pregnant!" We both laughed again and he said, "So what were we talking about again? Go ahead and continue telling me what you were saying about Jesus and the cross and all..." I continued and finished up our conversation and asked him what he thought. He said that he wasn't ready to repent now, but would "get right" with God someday. I explained that today was the day of salvation and that he might not get another opportunity to repent and to heed the the warning to repent. I told him to please consider what we talked about and we shook hands as he thanked me.

Phillip had finished his conversation and we decided to head back to our cars because Phillip had to leave early to make it to the Rodney Howard-Brown meeting. JUST KIDDING, Phillip. We walked back to our cars and prayed over the evening and thanked God for the opportunity to share His Gospel!

November 9, 2007 - I had my Kentucky School Of Ministry (KSOM) class this evening so I had planned to pick Sylvester up at 5:30pm to get out to the Highlands on Bardstown Rd and get everything set up and then leave by 6:15pm to make it to my 7:00pm class. Well, Sylvester forgot about a work meeting he had that evening and called me around 4:00pm to let me know. However, he said that he was going to come out immediately after his meeting. I was in a jam! How was I going to get everything set up for the team while I was in class with this nice little "monkey wrench" thrown in the mix? Well, I called Danny to see if he could show up a few minutes earlier than normal and he obliged.

I arrived in the Highlands at 6:00pm and got everything set up for the team. I had to leave at 6:15pm at the latest because KSOM is 25 minutes away from the Highlands. Danny was running a little late so I had to do the only thing I could do and that was to cover the table up with the edge of the tablecloth and pray that no one would steal the tracts, books, DVDs and Bibles we had. Yeah, I guess it would be good for someone to "steal" a Bible (or anything else we had), but NOT if they were simply going to throw it in a dumpster! After covering the table I jumped in my car and made the "mad dash" to my class.

I arrived at my class 10 minutes prior and really enjoyed the class on hermeneutics by local pastor, Dr. Ken Pagano. After class I eagerly headed to my car to join the team on the streets and to hear of what God was doing. As I drove out of the parking lot I checked my voice mail only to find out that Danny decided to head out at 8:45pm and that no one else from the team showed up. What a bummer! Why was I "bummed out"? Well, I was really eager to hit the streets with the guys and also for the simple fact that Danny was out there by himself. That typically never happens. There is always at least two of us. I called Danny and he said that he had some great conversations and handed out lots of tracts.

I'm looking forward to next week!

November 7, 2007 - I had been working on a "Facts About Mormons" display for about 30 minutes this morning with an expectation of the Mormons showing up. This is typically what occurs when we are on the U of L campus. The forecast called for a chilly day, but for November the upper 40's weather was going to mild to say the least. I packed all of the witnessing materials into my car and headed to the campus around 10:30am. I parked my car in the usual spot in front of the Baptist Student Union (BSU) and prayed. I then headed up the Student Activities Center ramp to let the U of L "powers that be" know that we had arrived on campus. I headed back down and to the Free Speech area began to set up and settle in for the next three hours.

The pedestrian traffic ebbs and flows with student class schedules and lunchtime activities. One minute there is just a smattering of pedestrian traffic and then it's "rush hour" the next. No one else from the team had shown up and I really didn't have any expectations that they might. Since I was by myself I focused on the distribution tracts to the literal "sea of students". I would mainly stand in the middle of the sidewalk and hand out tracts as quickly as possible without saying much except for, "hello" and "your welcome".

I find it truly amazing that even when I am not even trying to get into a One-2-One conversation, they come anyways. After about 30-45 minutes of handing out tracts to the students, Justin approached me and asked, "So what's this all about?" I stepped off of the sidewalk to the front of our table so we could talk further. Long story short, Justin was driving at what denomination and church I represented. He was so bowled over that I wasn't representing either, but simply Christianity. He said that it was so refreshing to not have someone pushing any other agenda than Christ's agenda. I eventually asked Justin the proclaiming Christians "deadly question". "Justin, if you were to stand before God and he were to ask you, 'Justin, why should I allow you into heaven?' what would be your response?" Justin pondered on the question for a moment and replied that he had faith in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross. I exclaimed, "Great answer!" I get so excited to hear people give the correct response when typically I get an answer like, "Well, I go to church and I read my Bible and I was baptized and...." The right answer is always, "Actually, God, I don't deserve heaven, but I deserve hell. If not for your grace, love and mercy demonstrated on the cross through Jesus Christ and his payment for my sins, I would spend eternity in hell. It's only because I have repented of my sins and put my faith in trust in Jesus Christ that I may enter in." I armed Justin with a "Hell's Best Kept Secret/True and False Conversions" CD and a tract with our contact information. We shook hands and he blended into the crowd of students. I grabbed a stack of tracts and made my way back out into the center of the sidewalk and continued distributing God's word written on a silly little piece of paper.

I recall that Cory approached me a little while later. He asked me what the "Million Dollar Freedom Cash" was all about. I told him that we were asking everyone the million dollar question, "What do you think will happen after you die?" Cory said that he thought everyone was going to heaven and that there wasn't a hell. He did, however, believe in Purgatory. He obviously had some sort of a confused Catholic background. I asked him if he thought God was good. He said that he did. I asked him if he thought God was just. He said that he was. I then asked him how anyone who had committed heinous crimes (murder, etc.) could just prance on into heaven without being held accountable for the actions. He told me that God was loving and forgiving so those people, too, would enter heaven. I said, "So you don't think God is good or just, right?" This caused him to step back and ask what I meant. If God is good, he must do the right thing and see justice served. What kind of good and just judge would allow a criminal to walk away without his fine being paid? Try that downtown at 600 W. Jefferson St! I proceeded to take Cory through the Law and then to the grace and mercy of the Cross. He understood his condition before God, but wanted to consider our conversation more. I gave him a copy of "The Greatest Gamble", which nails right between the eyes his thought process of there not being a hell. Cory thanked me for our conversation and we shook hands as he headed off to class. I pulled another stack of tracts out of my coat pocket and headed back to the sidewalk.

As I continued handing out tracts I would notice students coming in and out of the Baptist Student Union (BSU). Some would look my way and others wouldn't. Some would stand behind the table near the tree, but not near enough to show the slightest possible association. My mind took me back to October 6th of last year when they put "the sign" up while I was Open Air preaching to the students. Oh, well...Charlie Mike (continue mission).

Edgar Sosa and another, much taller, U of L basketball player were walking together down the sidewalk and I approached them with two tracts and said, "Listen if you guys know of any basketball players around here, I'm trying to get these to them. Do you guys know of any?" They chuckled and took the tracts and continued down the sidewalk.

As more "waves" of students began to come my way in both directions I found my self pulling the plastic off of the tracts and peeling it back to get at the tracts inside in a frantic manner so every student that passed by would have the opportunity to get one. I would quickly stuff the plastic from the tracts in my coat pocket. By 2:00pm, I was emptying my pockets of the empty plastic wrappers to reveal that I had pulled, peeled and handed out 700 of the Million Dollar Freedom Cash tracts and 200 of the large Million Dollar Freedom Cash tracts. I couldn't hardly believe it! I guess it wasn't too hard to believe considering that I was going through a stack of 100 tracts in about 5 minutes when the sidewalk was shoulder-to-shoulder with students.

It was a great day and a great opportunity, but I was bushed! I took some pictures as a final memory of the year. I packed everything up and loaded it back into my car. I sat down in my car and spun the cap off of a bottle of water and took a deep drink. I sat there for a moment, thanked God for my time on the campus and how this was going to be my last time on the campus for the year and prayed.

I drove away from the campus wondering if anyone read the tracts and was impacted for Jesus Christ. Was my time there in vain? Wouldn't it have much better time spent reading a book or just relaxing on the couch? I will probably never know this side of heaven nor do I really care, for I know that He has called me to be faithful and... Isaiah 55:11.

November 2, 2007 - I packed my car with our street witnessing "gear" and left my house at 6:00pm to head to our usual spot in the Highlands on Bardstown Rd to setup. On my way there, Phillip called me to let me know that he was already out there and that they were doing "sidewalk construction" near our area. I arrived and parked my car. Phillip and I immediately greeted each other and decided to pray. After praying we got the table of tracts, books, CDs and DVDs set up and starting handing out tracts to those passing by. Danny arrived around 8:00pm and "jumped in". Sylvester (Jr.) and his dad, Sylvester Sr., arrived about 8:20pm. We were excited for Sylvester considering that it was the first time that his dad had actually been out street witnessing with the team. Speaking of which, a funny anecdote about Sylvester and his dad...

Often times, we will hand someone a tract and do what we call a "hand off". This is where we hand someone a tract and tell them, "that person right over there is asking everyone the "Million Dollar Question" of the day." When the person that was given the tract approaches the other member of the team they say something like, "Million Dollar Question - What do you think happens after you die?" Well, I used the "hand off" with a couple and said, "You see that guy down there with a black toboggan, glasses and a leather jacket? He's asking everyone the "Million Dollar Question". Go ask him." Well, they were making a "bee-line" for Sylvester Sr.! I failed to notice that Sylvester and his dad were exactly identical in all of the attributes I had just described to the couple. YIKES! I was sending this couple to someone who just wanted to observe for the evening. I exclaimed, "No! The guy straight ahead." It was too late! They walked right up to Sylvester's dad and said, "So what's the "Million Dollar Question"? I hurriedly got Sylvester's attention and motioned him over. He quickly jumped in and his dad got to listen to Sylvester witness to the couple. Afterwards I apologized for the incident and we all laughed about it.

Earlier, a man was coming down the sidewalk walking his bicycle. I handed him a large "Freedom Cash" tract and told him that we were asking everyone what they think happens after you die. He said, "Do you want to know my philosophy on that?" I said, "Sure!" About that time his phone rang and I thought, "Great, another possible witnessing opportunity down the tubes." If someone doesn't want to discuss spiritual matters, they usually would take the opportunistic phone call to walk away. However, this guy was lingering. By the time he ended his phone conversation he was hovering over our information table. I think I was engaged in another witnessing conversation, so Danny began to speak with him. Ironically enough, Danny later told me that the man expressed his "philosophy" by pulling a Bible out of his pocket! Of course, just because someone has a Bible doesn't necessarily mean that they are a Christian, but Danny probed a bit further to discover that the man was a Christian according to the testimony of his words.

I spoke with Amanda as she was passing by. She considered herself to be a "born-again" Christian, but was struggling with, as she put it, "her view of who God was and her feelings." Was God a righteous, just, judge to be feared or a loving, kind and merciful God that was only concerned with love, love, love? I explained that God was both, but balanced. I told her to only look to the Scriptures to discover the nature and character of God and to rely upon her feelings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade me. I also mentioned that God is not willing that any would perish, but that everyone would come to repentance. That He is kind and patient and that His kindness leads you to repentance. I told her that feelings can be good, but they can lead you astray. I expressed to her that God was there even when it doesn't "feel" like it. She later expressed that she was a "Seventh Day Adventist", but I didn't hold that against her. (ha!) I grabbed my Bible and read Colossians 2:16 to her. Fortunately, she did not believe that I was a heretic for not worshiping on the "true Sabbath", but inferred that I had not yet received that revelation yet and I was only responsible for the knowledge I had. I could have jumped all over that statement, but decided not to open that can of worms. As we finished our conversation I thanked her for stopping to speak with me and I gave her a copy of "How To Live Forever...without being religious" and "The Way of the Master" books.

Phillip had to head out at 9:00pm and Sylvester and his dad left around 9:30pm. Sylvester gave Danny a copy of "Blind Watchmen" by Donnie Swaggart to check out. Danny and I packed everything up at 9:45pm, prayed and walked over to Mark's Feed Store to grab a bite to eat and talk about the evening.

We all had multiple One-2-One conversations and handed out lots of tracts. We thank God for His grace, love, mercy and the opportunity to be used by Him! We are trusting in Him and His Word.

November 1, 2007 - On Monday, November 1, 2007, I received an EMail from the Academic Dean stating that she would like to speak with me. I visited the Dean's office and she handed me an envelope addressed to Mr. Winkler (the Executive Director of the University) that contained a type-written letter, a "Creepy Cash" tract, a "Million Dollar Bill" tract, a "Science Confirms the Bible" tract and a business card from my church. My name was also highlighted on the business card by whoever submitted the complaint. The letter was tri-folded on plain white paper with no salutation or signature. The letter simply stated the following:

"This teacher is proselytizing to the students and handing out these materials. Students are uncomfortable with this activity being pressed on them here at school."

I briefly explained the situation to the Academic Dean to assure her that I was not, in fact, running around "proselytizing" students and that the "Christian" conversation was initiated by the student and our conversation was very amicable. She thanked me for explaining my side of the story and stated that she thought it was not a student that complained, but rather a faculty member. She surmised that a student quite possibly left them on a desk and a faculty member found them. I proceeded to ask her if I needed to remove the tracts that I had laid out on a table in my classroom. She said that she was going to have to speak with the Executive Director regarding this matter and that she would have to get back to me.

Within an hour of meeting with the Academic Dean, I EMailed her the following account of the incident from my perspective:

On Friday, October 26, 2007 I was passing by another faculty member's classroom and heard a student talking about the power of "rocks" (geological). I popped my head into the classroom to listen in and eventually took a seat. The faculty member (who's class I was in and also a professing Christian) began to converse with them about this subject matter. One thing led to another and their conversation turned to God, religion, Christianity, etc. The student claimed to be a Christian and I entered the conversation by mentioning that I was as well. We chit-chatted for a few minutes about Christianity and I mentioned that she should stop by room 364 (my room) and check out some of the unique Gospel tracts that I have. As the conversation continued and eventually faded away, the student mentioned that she was going to go back to her classroom, room 368. I said, "Wait a minute, we are in room 368!" She said, "Well, then what classroom is my class in?" She could not remember and seemed a bit confused. We all chuckled and I stepped outside the classroom with her to show her that the number on the classroom was, in fact, room 368. I told her that I was heading back to my classroom and she was heading in the same direction, so we walked back together. As we were approaching my classroom I said, "See, here is my classroom, Room 364." She entered my classroom and we laughed again about the room number confusion. I proceeded to show her one of the tracts that I had mentioned to her earlier. She took the tract, read it and remarked that she thought it was great. We then proceeded to talk for about the next 30 minutes about Christianity, how she felt that she did not "fit in" to the department that she was in, her husband's Christianity, her Christian upbringing, etc. During our conversation she mentioned that she was currently not attending church on a regular basis, but was looking for a church where both her and her husband would feel comfortable. She proceeded to ask me what church I attended. I gave her one of the church business cards from my wallet and said that she would be more than welcome to come at any time. She looked at a few of the other tracts and took one of the "Million Dollar Bills" and a tract on "Science Confirms the Bible". I told her that I enjoyed talking with her and that if she ever wanted to talk more that I was available...in room 364! She thanked me, we shook hands and she left.

Not long after I sent the EMail I was paid a visit by the Executive Director. He spoke with me briefly (small talk and did not mention the incident) and looked around my classroom. He was, no doubt, checking out the tracts that I had laid out. After a few moments he left and I have not heard anything else regarding the matter.

UPDATE! - On November 8, 2007 I received an EMail from the Academic Dean stating that she spoke with the Executive Director and they both decided it would be best for me to remove the Christian literature that I had laying out. I immediately removed the Christian literature and also took down the Christian figurines of a manger scene that could be as "offensive" to some. For the past 7 years I have had this material laying out on a desk in my classroom and have never had a problem until now.

Read accounts from other members of The Jude 23 Network!!!