John 3:30

He Must Increase, I Must Decrease

Open Air Preaching

Preachers of All Ages – Maryland @ tOSU Outreach

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The God we serve is infinitely amazing. He graciously gave us a wonderful day to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ before Ohio State trounced overcame a tough Maryland football team! Here is a photo of the men who joined me Saturday except for Mark Seward who had already left by the time the photo was taken.

We began our ministry at 1pm by singing a couple hymns together and then praying for our time. I really believe the corporate worship benefits each of us before (and after) the ministry time.

LtoR Kurtis Gould, Chase Vendley, Caleb Davenport, Joshua Richards, John Rataczak, Joe Conkle, Fred Triplett & Michael Coughlin

One of the neat things that God does here in Central Ohio is pull people together to this ministry from all ages and walks of life. On Saturday, Oct 7, 2017, we had a preacher in his teens, thirties, forties, fifties and sixties.

But what a joy it was to see so many people take turns preaching. One of my hopes is that for several hours there will never be a break from people hearing the preaching. With so many willing men, that’s a possibility!

Along with preaching, we handed out at least 1,000 tracts and held up a wooden cross

This day brought more vocal opposition than usual. A man came up to me as I was preaching and told me to preach about love, not sin. He said that’ll attract more people.

I cannot read another person’s heart, but his eyes and his spirit appeared haughty to me. It is impossible for me to say for sure, of course, but it was the impression I got. I told him to stick around and listen a little (because I do, in fact, preach the love of God demonstrated in the crucifixion of His Son), but he sorta patted me on the arm and said, “just preach love,” while smirking. I asked him if he was offering me correction, and he said yes, not seeing the irony in the encounter.

Caleb Davenport preaching.

Another piece of new of note is that someone from one of the other church groups came up to Fred and told him no one could get saved from reading our tract. Fred asked why not, and he told Fred, “It doesn’t contain the gospel.” Rather than confronting the man, we chose to continue our ministry. Nevertheless, if this man cannot see the gospel in our tract, we are left to wonder what he thinks the gospel is, which makes us fear for his soul! Imagine showing up at Buckeyes games week in and week out, peddling a message to people, suffering shame, and not yourself being born-again! Pray for this man that his eyes may be opened.

While I was preaching a young woman approached me and engaged me. It is important to know that I was preaching the righteousness of God found in Jesus Christ, the sinfulness of man, and the exclusivity of faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. This woman comes up to me and says, “All I hear is you’re [me] such a good person and we are not.”

What???  Is that really what she heard? Yet we are not surprise because the Word of God tells us

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
(1Co 2:14)

and

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
(1Co 1:18)

So we do not lose heart (2 Cor 4:1), but we continue! This same woman told me she wasn’t a bad person after I corrected her and told her we are all bad people, and then she proceeded to proclaim her own goodness (Prov 20:6). She told me she had never stolen or murdered anybody. I asked her if she’d ever hated anyone and she said she had not. So I asked her if she was pro-choice, and she replied yes.

Then I informed her that by being pro-choice she is approving of murder and is a murderer at heart. She immediately played the “what if someone was raped” card and tried to convince me that killing Hitler or Stalin when they were infants would have been a good thing. This is the irrationality of the godless worldview, nothing makes sense, so anything makes sense. She told me I had a blind faith and it was stupid to believe God talked to Abraham…then told me she was Jewish. I guess she meant that was her nationality? 🙂

John preaching with Joe standing by.

Eventually, I chose to just keep preaching instead of let her distract me from preaching any longer. Like I said earlier I want someone on the box at all times, and I didn’t feel like getting off to talk to her would have served the mission. But my favorite part of the whole encounter was when she said

You’re just one of those preachers who wants to say what you want to say, but you don’t want to listen to what anyone else has to say.

Since I was already on the defensive with her a little, I was getting ready to retort, but then I just said, “Exactly. Yes, that is exactly my goal here. I’m here to proclaim the truth today.”

For many people that sentiment will seem wrong, or, at the very least, impractical. But that is the nature of preaching, is it not? Are we to be ashamed of the method prescribed by God for spreading His Word because his enemies loathe it? Shall ambassadors for Christ be concerned with the opinions of those with whom we are sent to command to make peace with our King? God forbid! May the Lamb of God receive the reward for His suffering! I am actively recruiting people to join me for the Super Bowl in Minnesota, click here to see how you can help!

Kurtis preaching to the crowd!

I Tried Friendship Evangelism and You Won’t Believe What Happened Next!

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This is my report from the pre-game evangelism at tOSU on 9/23/2017. If you are only interested in the friendship evangelism part of the story, scroll down until you see “Finally.”

Sept 23, 2017 was another day of fruitful ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ at Ohio Stadium. The Buckeyes took on the UNLV Running Rebels, but before that, my team ministered to those attending and generally hanging around.

For the game on the 16th, I reported that I had a team of 13 people preaching and tracting. For the 9/23 game I only had 5 people! One of the team members was a total surprise that morning, a woman named Debbie whom I had never met before. And my friend Jeff came with me very last minute. I was also grateful for the old faithful, Joshua & Rachael Richards. We were not many in number, but Joshua and I managed to preach for about 90 minutes apiece while Rachael, Debbie and Jeff passed out at least 1,000 tracts!

We sang a few hymns to get started. The sound of the female voices mixing with mine of Joshua’s was very pleasing to my ears and I trust to our Lord’s as well. We had the usual batch of folks who encouraged us and folks who were indifferent with a small number of dissenters.

I want to share 3 things about this outreach which I find remarkable.

First, after years of preaching there, I was approached by one of the traffic cops because he wanted to encourage me. He said he is praying for the people who hear and sent me his really great testimony. He was saved and ended up forgiving his father’s murderer and sharing the gospel with him. If you are interested in that story leave a comment or go to the contact me page and let me know you’d like to read his testimony.

Secondly, I think I finally found an application for a passage of Scripture that has always escaped me.

Mark 9 38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us.

I have never felt I understood the application of those verses. Every time I heard someone refer to that passage, they were referring to heretic prosperity preachers! I knew this verse couldn’t possibly mean that we support false teachers, just because they say Christian things.

But Saturday I noticed something. For the second week in a row, a large group of people from another church in town were there passing out tracts and holding signs. And another group of believers were there most weeks last year and all 3 weeks of this year too. You see, these people go to churches where I have enough doctrinal disagreement that I doubt I’d ever partner with them in an evangelistic outreach. But, I did have sweet fellowship with them in just a few minutes of conversation. And then it hit me, they may not be with me, but these folks are not against me either. They are fighting the same battle for souls, but from a different understanding of Scripture.

Finally, I had a chance to practice friendship evangelism {GASP}. Observe.

A young man approached me carrying a bicycle (I always find that decidedly odd). I was handing out tracts and I offered him one. He gave me the kindest smile and said no thank you and walked past me.

As providence would have it, the light changed and he was ‘stuck’ at the intersection with me, but there was no more traffic, so I struck up conversation.

Me: So, do you go to school here or work here?
Eli: I go to school here.
Me: What’s your name? I’m Michael.
Eli: Eli.
Me: Oh, that’s a good Bible name.
Eli (visibly bothered sorta grumbles without making a sound)
Me: Where you from?
Eli: Urbana.
Me: Oh, my friend lived there. Her son is XXXX.
Eli: I know him. He graduated a year ahead of me.
Me: And Buck Nut is from there too, right?
Eli: Yeah, Larry Lokai! I just saw him.
Me: That’s cool. So can I give you one of my cards now (extending a tract).
Eli (smiling): No, thanks. I still don’t want one.
Me: Even after this friendly conversation you still won’t take one?
Eli (still smiling, this guy had charisma): Nope.
Me: Ok. I’m going to write about this encounter. You’ve helped me prove a point I want to make to some folks.
Eli: Perfect, glad I could help.

Then the light changed and he walked off toward the sunset carrying his bicycle. Ok, that was a bit dramatic. It was 9:30am and the sun was still in the east, but I digress.

You see, dear reader, the point is that this was the exact situation friendship evangelists claim is required to get the gospel to people. Friendship evangelism, in its common practice can be loosely defined as not giving folks the gospel but doing good works so that people will see Jesus in you and ask you about the hope you have. People need to be warmed up to the gospel by our good works, kindness and godly behavior, without bashing them over the head with the Bible or talk of sin. You must adorn the gospel to make it palatable to them.

Many people, and maybe even you, my friend, use the concept as friendship evangelism as your excuse to not give out the gospel to people. Some twist scripture enough to the point where they practically have their mouths taped shut waiting for a non-believer to drop to their knees and say “What must I do to be saved?”

But on September 23, friendship evangelism failed to live up to its billing. Eli simply had no more desire to take a tract after my kindness toward him than before. In fact, he laughed at the implication that he would. And that is because friendship evangelism is a made up thing which is antithetical to the biblical explanation of how evangelism is done, even “personal evangelism.” You see, the gospel is a proclamation that the King of kings and Lord of lords has accomplished on the cross and in His glorious resurrection all that was needed to atone for His people’s sin. And that each and every one of us must repent of our own sin and trust Jesus Christ as our only righteousness before a holy and just God. And it is only in hearing this message that man can truly be drawn to Christ, and it is only by faith in this message that a man can be saved.

So withholding the gospel from someone whose heart is darkened by sin and waiting for them to ask you to give it to them is analogous to a medic waiting for a knocked out person in an ambulance to request CPR. No, my friend, we who are living must be giving the life-giving words to those around us who are dead and trust God to quicken all those whom He has chosen from before the foundation of the world.

Thank you for reading this post. I try not to ‘break dry bread’ with you, but at the same time I like to paint the picture of how things went that day. Please pray that God would grant salvation to those who heard the Word preached or received tracts!

Open Air Preaching from Home

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I am sure you’ve heard of “working from home.” But have you heard of open air preaching from home? I want to share what I think was a singularly unique experience to me. Maybe you’ll think so, too!

My 3 year old son Wesley had just gone outside into the backyard. My teenagers were on the couch with my 9 month old and my wife was gone. All was quiet on our little street and then I heard the doorbell, or a knock. I looked over and saw a man in a suit with a young boy. I figured they were Jehovah’s Witness, and headed over to the door.

The young boy showed me a pamphlet and was trying to talk to me. You could tell it was taking some courage for him to do whatever he was doing. Had he been a boy scout or a basketball player raising money for a trip, I’d have bought popcorn or candles or whatever he was peddling to encourage him.

After I took the pamphlet I looked quickly at it to find the JW markings. The man was saying something about Scriptures and the boy was talking about love…and I told them to hold on, while I went and grabbed a tract.

I always try to give JWs a tract because I have been told they are not allowed to take them. It’s a test, in a sense. If they take it, fine. If they refuse, it opens the door to asking them why I should take their stuff and they don’t take mine, etc.

So I went out on the porch and started asking the boy what he thought. He kept saying they were walking around to ask people what “they thought.” I asked him if he believed Jesus died on a cross for sinners, and he mumbled yes and then the older man corrected me and said Jesus died on a stick. I repeated that He died on a cross and then asked if they believed Jesus is God. The boy just stared and the man said “No.”

I don’t intend to prove this here, but if you do not believe Jesus Christ is God, (and not just “a” god, but the God) you do not believe the saving gospel.

So I started talking to the boy and telling him that whatever the man he is with has been telling him is false and will lead him to Hell. I started explaining that Jesus had to be God to die in the place of sinners; that if Jesus was only a man that He would not have been able to satisfy God’s wrath for sinners!

The reason I did this is twofold.

  1. I have found that JWs usually travel in pairs, (like Sith), and, like Sith, there is usually a learner and a ‘master.’ I believe all men who hear the saving gospel of grace and of Christ’s glorious resurrection can be saved, but I’ve found experienced JWs particularly hard to interact with. But a 9 or 10 year old child who was obviously nervous about whatever faith he had? I was sure I could get him thinking and maybe be used of God for his salvation.
  2. As I mentioned, the context was that I had a 3 year old alone outside, a couple of teenagers watching a baby and no wife at home. I didn’t believe I had time for a friendly conversation where I slowly tried to lead them to the gospel. Nor, honestly, do I want to listen to their beliefs. I know many wonderful Christians who will sit and listen to pagans share their thoughts and many times blaspheme Christ. I do not believe it is my duty to allow them the privilege.

The man immediately recognized what was happening and saw he would get nowhere with me and said, come on, let’s go. And he led the lad away. So I quoted Matthew 18:6 to him. They, of course, kept walking, so I kept talking, louder and louder. Within seconds I was open air preaching from my porch to this man and this child as they met with one of their cohorts across the street. I continued to preach the necessity of the new birth, believe in the deity of the Christ and the truth of the resurrection for the justification for sinners. You could see the bewilderment as I do not think they expected this, nor probably ever encountered it.

I started to hope I had neighbors who would hear the preaching too! I saw a family walking toward the house who looked like they may be the young lad’s family and I started preaching in their direction. Finally, they all headed as far away as they could until I could no longer see them.

I am sure some (Christian) people would not feel comfortable with this story. But when was this young man going to hear the gospel if not from the preacher whose door he was brought to providentially? Do I know how many more days any of those folks had before they met their maker? Do you not believe that it is through the foolishness of what we preach that men are saved from the wrath of almighty God?

I am not saying that is the only way to interact with JWs (or anyone). But I am grateful to God for the opportunity to preach His Word today, even if it was only for 3 minutes. 6 people heard the gospel, my own children heard me preach the gospel and saw the importance of it.

Maybe the sweetest part was coming inside and praying with my children for the salvation of sinners and then singing hymns together as worship of Jesus Christ! May God be praised and may He have mercy on the men and woman and children who visited my neighborhood today.

Encouragment Today

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I made an error recently which resulted in $70 in overdraft fees in my ministry account. I felt really bad about this and that the stupid mistake I made had cost so much money. I want to be a good steward in all my affairs, but I feel especially obligated to be watchful with money donated for God’s work.

This morning I called Bank of America and just threw myself on the mercy of the person who answered the phone, Ben, and I asked him if he would reverse the fees as a courtesy to me.

And he did! I was so thankful! That would have been enough to make it a great morning.

But then he started asking about the ministry, and we ended up talking about the Lord Jesus Christ for several minutes, too; it was very encouraging. He was glad to hear of our preaching ministry and wasn’t ashamed to talk about the gospel! Praise the Lord!

Preaching to the Choir?

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Dear reader, the question this article proposes to answer is, “Why would I go to a Christian worship event to preach?”

Do I just want to start trouble?

Is this literally a form of preaching to the choir?

Do I believe only that only I and 14 other Calvinists on the internet are the “true church?”

Please join me along with my friend Brandon Hines as we lay out a case for why Christian street preaching and evangelism is not only acceptable outside a Christian worship event, but why in fact, it is necessary outside many events designated as Christian worship events.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

2017 Arnold Report – 4

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This is part 4 of a series.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

What a great day we had! Our prayer stand received very little attention, but Kurtis and I combined for at least a couple hours of preaching, our young people handed out almost 1000 tracts and distributed 150 The Biggest Question DVDs.

Here I am showing my #UnpopularTheMovie hoodie. Hopefully people who didn’t stay to listen to preaching will still watch that movie online!

There was one significant story I wanted to share about a witnessing encounter. I met a dear couple, Casey and Alexa. They were unmarried and had traveled to the Arnold together. Somehow in the course of conversation I found out they were staying in a hotel together.

Each of them told me they were a Christian (Casey even had a scripture verse tattooed on his arm!). I was very tempted to say, “Praise the Lord, it’s great to meet a Christian brother and sister,” then insist they read the tract and watch a DVD. But something didn’t feel right.

I asked them if it was ok if I said something that sounded judgmental. They said sure, so I actually asked them if they were fornicating based on the fact they had a hotel room together. They admitted as much and didn’t seem phased by it.

So I explained as politely but firmly as I could that they were living in open rebellion to God, and that they didn’t sound like they had been converted. I pointed out that a person who had been redeemed by Christ ought to want to do things God’s way. They listened politely and neither repented outwardly nor defended themselves.

Alexandra and I enjoying Kurt’s preaching.

I told them I didn’t want them to just walk away and commit to waiting for marriage though. I told them what I wanted was for them to be sexually pure for the sake of their faith in Christ and His gospel!

I then reminded them of the gospel. This was a sweet moment as I know this couple goes to church and, in fact, they each have their entire lives. I am quite certain whatever church they go to isn’t challenging them to live a life a holiness. May they be delivered from whatever false gospel they are chained to!

We must praise the Lord because the day was mild as far as weather is concerned. It was dry and cold with very little wind. Cold enough to make you cold though! We had frozen toes by 4pm!

Finally, after a long, cold day, I took my team to Raising Canes which is unofficially our post (and sometimes pre) evangelism eating spot!

I hope that series of posts was helpful to you. Feel free to drop me a question or a comment below if you have one!