9/29/11    Alex and Laura    both about 20

I want to encourage more people at my church to witness regularly, but more and more I am realizing this doesn't happen by talking or teaching about evangelism but by actually doing it together.  It is better caught than taught, as Jesus demonstrated.  Our church has home Bible study groups that meet throughout the week.   so with this in mind I met at the beginning of our Thursday night home group and three of us - Nick, Tiffany and I - headed out after being prayed for by the others in order to share the good news with whomever the Lord might put in our path.  The idea is that the Bible study would then proceed as normal and that we would report back after witnessing to share our adventure and pray for the people we met.  We decided to go over to the nearby IIT campus where we had an interesting conversation with Alex and Laura - he a disillusioned former evangelical church attender and she a faithful Catholic who trusts that she is forgiven as long as she confesses her sins regularly.  They had seemed to be hurrying to get somewhere when I stopped them, asking if they had some time for some questions, and this led to a conversation of almost an hour.  Back at the Bible study, Nick and Tiffany related the conversation to the rest of the group, and we all prayed for Alex and Laura.  I hope to do this every week, taking out someone different from the group to witness with me, because its a great way to keep the group members mission-minded and outwardly focused.

9/26/11 Steve, about 60
I brought Ernie -a relatively new believer from our church- out onto the streets today, the same streets God had rescued him from just a few years ago. Now it was his turn to help reach out to those still in darkness, but he was a bit unsure as to how he would be received by those who knew him from his past life of street hustling. Sure enough, we met someone he knew - a man named Steve who was a customer from Ernie's drug-dealing days. Steve had a lot of theories about the things of God, but relied on his own ideas rather than God's revelation of Himself in His Word. As I explained the Gospel message to Steve, Ernie affirmed what I said through his own personal testimy of how God has worked in his life. It really got Steve's attention, hearing the Bible explained more clearly and seeing an old acquaintance whom God has changed a lot since he last knew him. Ernie later told me he had mixed feelings about the conversation. Talking with Steve brought back a lot of negative memories from his past life, but talking about Jesus helped him remember the present.

9/23/11   Uksa,   about 30
Walking down the sidewalk I used a MDB tract to start a conversation with a man just getting off his bus, who turned out to be from the Republic of Georgia. Uksa (not sure of spelling) told of a childhood growing up with minimal involvement in the Orthodox Church, which had undergone government repression. He now conducts research at the U of I, and told me he understands English fairly well.  However, as our conversation progressed I began to suspect his comprehension was limited, judging from his constant smiling agreement with everything I said. I made a judgement call - maybe he could understand written English better than spoken - and I gave him more info, a New Testament, and a church invitation.

9/16/11 Latrice,    early 20's
"Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction." 2 Tim 4:2 After a Bible study with a young seeker named Tian at a Subway sandwhich shop we turned to leave and I asked a young lady sitting behind us about her beliefs. "Oh, I'm a Christian" she said confidently. "Can you tell me what that means to you? She thought for a moment, but then confessed that she had no idea. "How about if a neighbor who knows that you go to church were to ask you how he can go to heaven. What would you tell him?" She guessed that he should do good things and go to church. We went on to a great conversation about following Jesus, and it was good for Tian, the young man I was doing the Bible study with, as he was able to hear the basics of Christianity explained clearly to someone else who needs to hear it and it is being demonstrated right from the start that following Jesus means we are joining in His mission.

9/15/11 Abraham, about 22
Nick and I were in IIT's student center looking for a conversation when I stopped a student as he walked by, requesting permission to ask him a few questions. He - Abraham - didn't really say yes or no so I went ahead, asking about his beliefs. "I'm a Muslim" he declared, very seriously, in a way that seemed to settle the issue. I appealed to some common ground that we as Christians have with Muslims, that we believe God is holy and has infinite worth and glory, and that He is also a God of justice. Abraham agreed, though still unsmiling and really doing nothing to encourage the conversation, so I plowed on. "If justice is to be served, then nothing less than a sacrifice of infinite value would satisfy God's demand for justice when we break His laws" was my point. "Yes, but Allah has infinite mercy" Abraham stated. At this point I acknowledged that there are differences between the Christian and Muslim beliefs, and asked Abraham if I could explain Christianity without any expectation that he concede to any points I would make. He agreed, and I had the wonderful opportunity to present the Gospel to Abraham, though he remained unsmiling the whole time. He listened very intensely and I had no way to know what he was thinking until the very end, when he suddenly broke into a broad grin and said "Thanks! That really makes things a lot more clear!" and gladly took the additional material I gave him. Nick and I laughed about this later when we both confessed our nervousness about Abraham's serious demeanor, and then we agreed in prayer together for the Gospel seed that has been planted in his life.

9/11/11 Javier, about 40
"We're going through hell right here on earth" is what a man named Javier told me when I asked him about his beliefs at the park this morning. He told me he believes in heaven but not hell. Javier grew up Catholic and admitted he picks and chooses what he wants to believe out of the Bible. He was surprised when I told him that Jesus had more to say in warning about hell than he talked about heaven. We agreed that it is an uncomfortable subject to talk about, but then again, it isn't meant to be comfortable and if it is true then ignoring it or disbelieving in it won't make the reality of hell go away. Javier had a noncommital attitude toward faith in general and I could see a connection - he thought Jesus' death on the cross saved all people regardless of their response, so why bother thinking much more about it either way? I talked with him about our sin and the importance of appreciating all that we have to be thankful for in this life rather than feeling it is a "hell on earth". I hope our conversation helped Javier to see that there is much more at stake in this life than his day to day concerns; there is something and someone to live and die for.

9/8/11    Eric,    about 50
In the Deli line at the grocery store I turned around and handed a fellow customer, Eric, a MDP gospel tract which helped start a friendly conversation. As it turned out, Eric is a believer in Jesus but described himself as "between churches" and admitted he hasn't been trying very hard to get involved in a new one. He said "Sometimes God just has to give me a kick in the rear end to get me going" and we agreed that He may just use a complete stranger in the grocery store to do just that.

9/5/11 Tom, William, and Jason     ?, 20, 20
For several weeks I've been debating on Facebook with Tom, an "agnostic atheist" who commented on one of my Facebook prayer posts. I don't normally engage in online discussions but decided to continue this conversation in the hopes that God might speak to Tom but also because I felt I could learn and be sharpened in the process. Today on the street I met two young men - William and Jason - both atheists, and I was surprised by how similar their arguments are to Tom's, which helped sharpen me for their questions. They basically try to judge God as if he were their peer, and they get very indignant at the thought that they will be judged by Him instead. They are self-righteous and judge God to be the one who is unrighteous. They say they would defy him to his face if they had the chance no matter how wise and powerful He is, which contradicts their value of logic and common sense, so they try to deny His existence. They deny any scriptural authority, so debates with them can go around in circles, but I am reassured by Romans 1:20 that all people have enough truth and common sense to recognise our maker but I also know that God is not obligated to reveal Himself to anyone unless he chooses to. Atheists are like fools standing in front of an oncoming train; they can blindfold themselves and claim to have no belief in trains all they want but in the end it will hit them hard, just like outside of God's mercy they will be hit hard by the truth of God's righteous anger against all who stand in opposition to Him.

9/5/11 Buddy, about 45
While riding bike through Chicago's University Village on a beautiful Sunday morning I came upon two well-dressed men enjoying their latte's and each other's company at a table outside a coffee shop. I gave them MDB gospel tracks, hoping to start a conversation, and after asking if they believe in heaven one of them remarked "There must be a heaven, because this is hell right here". I replied, "I've heard that a lot, but don't you think things can get a lot worse than this?" This was too uncomfortable to think about for them, because they quickly changed the subject, so I wished them well and went on my way. The next person I met was Buddy, who was unemployed and newly homeless and glad to have someone to share his troubles with. He wasn't ready to talk about the Lord, but was thankful for a listening ear and glad when I offered to pray for him. The contrast between Buddy and the coffee-shop men got me thinking about why they would call this a "hell on earth". I think it has a lot to do with their expectations. They believe God owes them something here on earth and a paradise in heaven. Will they ever be satisfied? Has someone told them that God loves them and has a wonderful plan for them, and do they feel they are missing out? This is the result of a man-centered gospel, where the primary purpose in life is not God's glory, but man's happiness, giving them reason for disappointment. But the Bible is clear that we do exist for God's glory, a theme that is repeated over and over through the Bible and becomes obvious only when we can finally look past our own self-interest and see the truth that is there right in front of us. "...so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:11)

9/4/11 Sherman, about 35
People who pay attention only to arguments against God and Christianity, like the conspiracy theories they hear on certain TV channels, often use these "intellectual" arguments as a sort of smokescreen to cover up their real reasons for disbelief and sin. This was the case with Sherman, an Asian-American whom I talked with while watching a basketball game at the park this morning. Sherman tried to discredit the Bible and religion in general with a variety of accusations - and I responded to a few of them, but in the end his rejection of faith in Christ was more personal than intellectual in nature. His grandmother had practiced ancestral worship in China all her life until she was in her 70's when she became a Christian. She was so excited that all she could do was talk about Jesus to the point that his mother told him that she felt like she didn't know her any more. Sherman also has a few Christian friends who are trying to get him to go to church, but his biggest complaint about Christianity is that he doesn't want to lose his own personality, which is what he feels happened to his Grandmother and is happening to his friends. I asked him if he has any grasp of the dire consequences of his sin - that he will be held accountable before God one day. My hope is he will realize that losing his personality - and the ability to make and break his own standards rather than conforming to God's - will be the least of his worries when he faces eternity.

9/1/11 Hannibal and Jen, both 19
So how do you define "agnostic"? I asked a sophomore student while on the IIT campus. Jen, an Asian-American was hanging out with Hannibal, and African-American and also a sophomore at IIT. He grew up with a church background and she had no religious upbringing. She took a safe answer to the question of religious belief and said she is agnostic, meaning she has a general belief in God but couldn't commit to any one religion. Hannibal agreed with her. We had an interesting conversation with various theories about God, and eventually I just asked if I could share a perspective of Christianity they probably hadn't heard before. "You may not neccesarily believe everything I tell you, but just let me know if you understand". This gave me permission to share the big picture of Christianity without having to win their agreement to every point. I began my "different perspective" by saying "You've heard a lot about a loving and forgiving God, but did you know that God also loves justice?" This led to a presentation of both the law and grace of the Gospel, which they agreed helped make Christianity much more sensible and understandable. Its a start.