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TTUN @ tOSU Ministry Report – Nov 24, 2018

November 28, 2018 by Michael Coughlin

Me, Nick, Sarah, Jeff, Rusty and Jason (l to r)

The outreach to the game in Columbus, OH with TTUN actually began on the evening of November 23.  We had great joy that evening because several evangelists visited from out of town to help us this week!

We began the weekend with a time of prayer with president and founder of Sports Fan Outreach International, Bill Adams via conference call. After beseeching God by His mercy to bless us and our efforts, we headed to Skyline Chili to enjoy one of the many blessings God has given us through creation. The photo to the left is the Friday night team after downing some chili together.

After we ate, we headed back to my house where we worshiped the Lord through song and Bible reading. It was a sweet time of fellowship and praising God. It isn’t often that people give up an entire weekend or two days for the sake of the gospel, and I am grateful to these folks who all drove from more than 3 hours away to assist me at my primary fishing hole, the corner of righteousness, at THE Ohio State University.

Rusty and my son, Michael Robert, worshiping Jesus Christ through song.
Here’s Nick, Sarah and my son, Wesley singing. As part of our worship, Nick read Revelation 5 and Wesley read Psalm 1. God be praised!

“The Game”

Jason Bradshaw preaching on the right.

“The Game” is always the most crowded event at Ohio State. So we left earlier than usual on a cold and rainy day so that we could begin to minister by 9am. It is actually hard to believe how many people were out walking around in cold rain at 9am when kickoff wasn’t until noon! I praise God for my co-laborer Jason Roberts who met us near the stadium in order to help with the ministry.

Most of us don’t mind getting a little wet, and we live in a culture where keeping warm in the cold isn’t very difficult (at least in central Ohio). But keeping electronic equipment and tracts dry becomes the name of the game for evangelism. No one is going to take a wet, soggy, tract, and we certainly don’t need a speaker to malfunction or even electrocute someone due to water!

 

The Result

The day went like any other. We sang, we prayed, we preached, and we passed out hundreds of tracts. There were very few hecklers and a lot of kind-hearted souls who God sent to offer encouragement. A young man selling pies to raise money approached me for prayer, and I prayed for him. I offered to buy some of his pies and his response surprised me:

“I can’t take money from you, sir. I see you out here every week. I just wanted to encourage you.”

I was really excited to hear that. One of the reasons we don’t change locations is so that people will consistently see us, and that maybe that would have an impact on them. Another aspect of being at the same location for years is that we actually get to know the vendors and the ticket sellers. When you think about it, we are there doing the same thing…

Here you get an idea of the crowd size as they cross Lane Avenue to go to the game.

Street vendors and ticket sellers have the same physical goals we have:

  • Keep your equipment dry/protected
  • Get your message to as many people as possible
  • Stay warm; go home safely, and try to enjoy yourself while there.

Now we have a supernatural aspect to what we are doing, but in many ways, we are employing methods that by God’s grace are common to man in the dissemination of information. I think we build a kinship with the vendors when they realize we are not “against them.” ** When I left Saturday, I actually walked around and said bye to all of them. They were all very kind and chuckled as I said, “See you next season.”

Overtime

After the outreach I took the team to Raising Canes, another restaurant (like Skyline) which they do not have in that state up north. So we enjoyed a final Raising Canes lunch as the result of the kind supporters of this ministry. The fellowship was sweet as we shared stories and talked theology and simply enjoyed each other’s company.

Jason, Jeff, Sarah, Jason, Rusty, me and Nick

But the story doesn’t end there! The Buckeyes completed their season with a victory over our rival, and earned a place in the Big Ten Championship game. Now, several of us had already planned to go to Indianapolis on Dec 1 to minister to the crowds there, but now we get one more chance to reach our Ohio State fans. Will you pray right now that God would save souls in Indy? And pray that my crew of 8 would all be able to make it and dispense His gospel that day.


** The exception is when people peddle their pornography or strip club cards. I am openly against what they are doing, and God has driven those folks away because of His mercy toward us.

Filed Under: Gospel, Open Air Preaching, Witnessing Tagged With: 2018 OSU, attributes of God, God, Grace, Love, Mercy, Open Air, people, power, preaching, pride

Nebraska @ tOSU Ministry Report – Nov 3, 2018

November 6, 2018 by Michael Coughlin

On November 3rd, we went to OSU to preach the gospel to the fans of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Ohio State Buckeyes. But it was the events of November 2nd which in many ways are most notable.

My 2 year old son packing ESV NT Bibles into a box for us to bring to OSU.

I was actually beginning to be a little depressed near the end of the morning of November 2nd. Only 3 people had committed to meeting me at Ohio State for evangelism the next day. Please don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful for all those who accompany me and labor with me in the gospel. But there’s a strategic side of evangelism whereby we know that the more laborers there are, the better chance we have of reaching more people, and thus, reaching God’s elect.

My brief sadness was not only quickly overcome by our Lord Jesus Christ and His providence, but HE LITERALLY OBLITERATED it.

Around 2pm, I received a text from someone asking if she could come with us.

Minutes later, my friend John texted asking if he could stay at my house and evangelize with us the next day. 

Things were heating up!

Dear brother John Rataczak of Eleutheros Books.

Side note: John may be the smartest and most educated person I know. I relish every minute I get to sit at his feet and learn, frankly. You can buy his books here – https://www.eleutherosbooks.com/book_store

What joy I experienced now that I had 6 team members, when a coworker texted me completely out of the blue around 10pm to tell me he wanted to come too, and then Kurtis who was not sure he could make it also texted to say he could come!

I had gone from a team of four to eight in 8 hours! This was truly an answer to several prayers we had prayed throughout the season.

Here are some pictures, be sure to scroll down to the end for a really neat story about our public worship.

Miri, Jason, Kurtis, Alayna, Matt, Caleb, John and me before we began.
Here you can see Caleb preaching in the Buckeyes shirt on the far left and Alayna handing out tracts to people as they passed by on the right.
In this photo, Kurtis is exhorting the man walking away from him near the yellow car. This man yelled at Kurtis as he walked by and Kurtis was trying to help him see his need for God.
In the middle is Dennis, a drummer who was playing on some homemade drums most of the afternoon. We asked him if we could sing Christian hymns while he played the drums.
We sang a couple Christian hymns while Dennis played the drums. It was a sweet time of worship and also it drew attention from the passers-by as they heard God glorified through song.

Dennis was quite pleased to play with us. After we finished, we prayed for Dennis and his family, thanking God for him and for salvation for all. Dennis received our tract and one of our team members had $100 bill for him as a gift. Hopefully, God will use our generosity and gratitude to lead Dennis to Himself.

After we finished, we had a sweet fellowship meal together, as is our custom. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us this season through prayer and financial gifts. Everything we do is made possible and more enjoyable thanks to saints who care about getting the gospel to people. We have one remaining home game on November 24th against Michigan.

But God, in His infinite wisdom has seen fit to send me to Michigan November 17th to preach at the Indiana vs Michigan game. This will be the second time Indiana fans could see me. And Michigan fans will see me two weeks in a row now.

And the Big 10 Championship game is December 1st where likely Michigan or Ohio State will be playing. So who knows what God will do with his preached Word? Maybe someone will see me at multiple locations and be affected by that? Pray it may be so!

Filed Under: Gospel, Open Air Preaching, Witnessing Tagged With: 2018 OSU, attributes of God, God, Grace, Love, Mercy, Open Air, people, power, preaching, pride

Minnesota @ tOSU Ministry Report – Oct 13, 2018

October 14, 2018 by Michael Coughlin

For the second time this season we had back to back Saturdays with an Ohio State football home game. This was a particularly exciting week because I had 8 fellow evangelists who wanted to join me!

The clouds provided protection from the sun’s rays, resulting in very cold temperatures for an early October day. Pictured above is Kurtis preparing to preach with Jason Roberts and his daughter Miri in the background standing firm to pass out tracts.

A lot of folks don’t like to talk about “strategy” when doing ministry work. Employing strategy is considered a bit taboo because so many people have used man-centered and man-made strategies to try to attract people to churches.

But there is nothing wrong with using good wisdom to try to reach as many people with the gospel as possible — as long as the methods are biblically approved. And it is wise and caring to be sure that the folks you minister with are well taken care of.

Take, for example, the fact that 8 people were offering their time to get the gospel out at the Ohio State football game Saturday. In order to maximize the amount of time on the street engaging the lost, we need to minimize any wasted time. A big time waster on game days is “looking for parking.”

Praise the Lord for a man who was selling hats at the Ohio State game this weekend. I was very cold and unprepared for the cold and wind we would face!

Here is a description of our pregame activities along with an explanation of why we do what we do. I like to believe that my preparedness and organization is a blessing to those who join me (as long as they can put up with the pedantic nature of it).

Our first goal is to be at the preaching location 3 hours prior to kickoff. So, since the game was scheduled for noon, that meant we wanted to be there by 9am.

Nine people from 5 different vehicles all met at a location about a mile away from where we minister. Our goal was to arrive at 8:30. After meeting, as many people as possible piled into my van, while the rest walked the mile to the location. This amounted to the “young people.”

Then I drove the remaining folks to the location and dropped them off along with back packs, a box of tracts, etc. Then I went back and parked my car. 

Then I rode my bike back the location. The goal is to:

  • cut down on the total time spent trying to get from parking to the “corner of righteousness”
  • minimize any monetary spending on parking (we park so far away we don’t pay for parking)
  • reduce the amount of walking that people have to do — standing on concrete for several hours to preach and pass out tracts is actually already very tough on your legs!
I love this photo of Miri handing this OSU fan a gospel tract. 

So after meeting at 8:30, and all the shuffling back and forth, we were finally able to begin together by 9:08. You can see how everyone has to do their part for the team’s success.

By the time of kickoff, most of us have already been away from home over 4 hours without a meal or a break. I encourage my team to take care of restroom breaks before the crowd arrives. We have a window of about 2 hours where there is a consistent crowd, with a large concentration about 90 minutes to 30 minutes before kickoff. You don’t want to have to leave your post to use the restroom!

After the evangelism is over and we are all tired, we normally try to make time for a fellowship meal where we enjoy each other’s company, nourish our tired bodies and share stories of what we just encountered. I am very grateful to everyone who helps provide these meals, as well as the gospel tracts we pass out. This year so far we have already passed out about 5,000 tracts.

This week, because of the maturity of the team members who all arrived on time, we were able to sing Nothing But the Blood and pray together before splitting up to preach and pass out tracts. I am so thankful for Mike, Jason, Miri, Nick, Allie, Joe, Kurt and Adam who labored alongside me.

May Jesus Christ be praised by those who heard His Word preached or received a tract this weekend. He watched over us as usual, keeping us safe from harm, sending encouragement through the brethren, and sustaining us as we endured the elements. Praise His holy name.

Filed Under: Gospel, Open Air Preaching, Witnessing Tagged With: 2018 OSU, attributes of God, God, Grace, Love, Mercy, Open Air, people, power, preaching, pride

Indiana @ tOSU Ministry Report – Oct 6, 2018

October 9, 2018 by Michael Coughlin

Kurtis preaching while Miri holds a sign. We gave away over a half a dozen Bibles!

Oct 6 was the first game this season where we arrived after the game began. For the first three games this year, we would normally arrive about 3 hours before kickoff, and minister to the crowds as they walk to the game.

This week’s game was 4pm, so we planned to arrive about 6pm. This gets us there about an hour to an hour an a half before the game ends. The evangelism is very different from before to after game.

Kurtis is almost 19 and is a college freshman at Cedarville University. He has been preaching for a couple years and the Lord is growing him. 

Imagine a simple scenario with simple numbers. Before the game, let’s say about 30,000 walk past us over the course of 3 hours. That is about 10,000 people per hour or about 1,600 people every ten minutes who walk past and hear the gospel or get a tract.

Post-game evangelism differs because instead of a few hours of people hanging around and making their way toward the stadium, the entire crowd is leaving the football game at roughly the same time. So that 30,000 people who are walking back to their cars makes their way in about an hour. So instead of about 1,600 people walking past you every 10 minutes, it’s more like 5,000 people every 10 minutes!

This makes for much larger crowds while preaching. Notice in this photo below how many people are within earshot of my preaching!

Additionally, it seems people are more willing to take tracts or Bibles because they are just on their way home. Very few people want to carry a Bible to a football game, but if you’re just getting in your car anyway, why not?

 

Jason and Miri

I’m thankful to Jason and Miri Roberts and Kurtis and Kenton Gould for going with me this week. We had a sweet time of worship prior to evangelism and sang A Mighty Fortress. Jason commented that this really got him in a spirit of worship and service to God, and he thinks it had a calming effect on Miri, too, who is only 9 years old, but is a baptized believer serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

Worshiping with hymns is something I hope to do every time we are out together!

We handed out hundreds of tracts, and Kurtis and I preached for almost a total of 3 hours. Many souls heard the Word of God. Our Lord kept evildoers away from us and sent encouragement, as always. I even received a $1 donation. Praise the Lord that someone desired to support us!

It was a night when we could see that a few more laborers would have helped us pass out thousands more tracts. Would you pray that the Lord would raise up more laborers for the harvest?

One highlight was when I was preaching after the game, Kurtis overheard someone say, “Ugh, I thought that guy wasn’t here this week.”

I actually wondered if people would notice we weren’t there for pre-game! It is nice to know that our consistency is noticed. This is one of the keys to returning to the same location every home game for a whole season. Sinners notice, and we hope God would use these means to draw folks to His preacher — that they might hear and believe!

Filed Under: Gospel, Open Air Preaching, Witnessing Tagged With: 2018 OSU, attributes of God, God, Grace, Love, Mercy, Open Air, people, power, preaching, pride

Tulane @ tOSU Ministry Report – Sept 22, 2018

September 24, 2018 by Michael Coughlin

Instead of a long report in paragraph form, I’ve decided to post “quick hit” updates from our Saturday, September 22 day of ministry/evangelism at THE Ohio State University football game vs Tulane.

Dana Lewin

There is Joy in Serving Jesus

  • I was joined by 5 wonderful men of God: Caleb Davenport, Kurtis Gould, Adam Burd, Chase Vendley and Fred Triplett.
  • I don’t have a count of tracts passed out, but my box of tracts was significantly lighter when we finished!
  • We preached for at least 3 hours. For about an hour we preached on two street corners.
  • The after evangelism fellowship meal at Raising Canes was sweet fellowship, and, in my estimation, an important part of the endeavor.

Everyone Responds

  • Often we are asked if anyone responds to our “methods.” The answer is “Yes, everyone responds.” People either respond by believing in Jesus or rejecting Jesus.
  • While I was preaching, a man walked by me and gave me a fatherly disapproving look as I preached. He shouted, “Right message, wrong method.” I thought to myself but did not say, “I don’t appreciate the method he used to tell me that.” Let the reader understand.
  • The pornographers who had been passing out their garbage at our “corner of righteousness” did not show up this week. Were they finally driven away by the consistent witness of the Law of God and the Gospel of God?
  • Many Christians encouraged us with high fives, thumbs up or just little waves as they walked by. Thanks be to God for His people and their joy in hearing God’s Word preached.

Consistency Matters

  • I believe that being at the same location for years, and for every game has had an effect.
  • Other evangelists know us.
  • The pornographers may have been driven away by our presence.
  • The police are familiar with us, and they know we are there to do justice and to love kindness.
  • Team members have no trouble finding the rest of the team, because we are always in the same place. Folks who show up late do not lose the rest of the team, because we stay at the corner of righteousness.

Praise God for His good work this weekend. He is worthy to be praised, and we should thank Him for another chance to preach and teach His Word to sinners.

Filed Under: Gospel, Open Air Preaching, Witnessing Tagged With: 2018 OSU, Christ, church, evangelism, Gospel, Open Air, people, Righteous

OSU@tOSU Ministry Report – Sept 1, 2018

September 5, 2018 by Michael Coughlin

Typical crowd crossing the street on their way to the stadium.

The launch of the college football season for 2018 has begun, and so our SFOI 1000 work has begun as well. Click that link to see the rest of the dates that we will be ministering at the Ohio State University. Here is an update from the first week of the season.

Be On Time

One important aspect of leading a team to evangelize is planning. Working with 5-10 people and trying to get people to agree on a time to meet can be difficult. One of the biggest time wasters is sitting in traffic waiting for parking. With a noon gametime, the goal it to get there by 9. Any earlier and it’s tough to get people out of bed!

I ran later than I wanted this first week, and so the evangelism time was cut short by about a half an hour. I had hoped to be preaching by 9am, but didn’t start until almost 9:30. We trust the sovereign God who knew that I would be the only preacher present. He may have saved my vocal chords as I was still able to preach for about 2 hours with a couple breaks in the middle of the open air sermons.

I can’t stress how vital it is that everyone is on the same page. Before ministering to the crowd, we pray and sing hymns together. If a person or group is late, then either everyone else has to wait to minister, or we have to sing and pray without the entire team. Once we spread out to pass out tracts, it’s really hard to reel people in for those important activities, so my goal it always to set an early arrival time for my teams.

God gave me great joy by sending an old friend who I haven’t seen in nearly a decade. I loved our short visit.

Encouragement & Answered Prayer

God was gracious to us this Saturday by sending multiple Christians to us to encourage us. One husband and wife stopped to comment on the preaching, thank us for being there and pray for us. What a mighty God we serve! The man who prayed for us, Alex, asked if we ever did street evangelism and I said, “yes, we’d love to.” Maybe we will hear from him again as I gave him contact information.

Another man, Kadre, approached us as well, telling us he is also an evangelist. One of the things we prayed for prior to the event was that God would raise up more laborers to join us. We will see if that is what God is doing with Alex and Kadre!

My own heart is cheered by the men who came with me. Joe, Josh, Nicholas, and Fred all faithfully ministered through tracts, prayer and a willingness to speak one on one to people. I am grateful for my team of 5, but I hope to have 10-12 a few times so that we might reach more people with the gospel!

unsplash-logoEdan Cohen

Light versus Darkness

One of the reasons we go to sporting events is strategic. We go where there are a lot of people, in order that the message might be broadcast to as many as possible, even if only a few heed what we are dispensing. Well, strategy isn’t a Christian-only concept, and our dear corner of the Ohio State University was also being used to peddle complimentary passes to a central Ohio strip club!

I absolutely loathe sexual immorality and wickedness, and so, armed with the best weapon I could think of, I stepped on my stool and began to preach against the very immorality being peddled on that corner. I preached hard, praying internally as I preaching.

How do you preach against a particular evil while also proclaiming the life saving gospel? Like Jesus did. He is our example. Jesus preached against wickedness and often directed comments at particular people in the audience, yet constantly called people to repent and believe.

I am happy to say, with God’s help, the evildoers were driven away from my corner. I have called it the corner where righteousness dwells, and, as long as I have a voice, I will continue to make folks like that uncomfortable and give them the life-saving gospel. I sincerely do hope the young people who are exploiting women for money will be saved by grace, and I also hope that I kept them from tempting people to stray from their marriages and families, even if only temporarily.

May God be Glorified

We thank the sovereign God for bringing us home safely, providing wonderful fellowship and a meal after we were finished, and for the loads of encouragement we received.

We trust that His sheep hear his voice and they will follow Him. Please take a moment to pray for us and all those to whom we will be ministering in the future, and for those whom we have ministered to.

Filed Under: Gospel, Love, Open Air Preaching, Witnessing Tagged With: 2018 OSU, evangelism, Gospel, Ohio State, Open Air, people, preaching

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