Intrepid Evangelist

Procrasted posts or blog backsliding...continued...again

2011-12-27T15:02:00.004-05:00

As part of the third installment from a previous blog, below is the link to one of my posts in another blog that explain the points I highlighted on how God had been directing us in homeschooling. A final blog in this series is forthcoming later this week.

Why do we homeschool?

Thanks for stopping by!

Soli Deo gloria,
Adam

Procrasted posts or blog backsliding...continued

2011-12-24T18:04:00.001-05:00

As promised in the previous blog, below is the link to one of my posts in another blog that explain some of the points that I brought forth. In particular, this one relates to taking a more solid doctrinal stance. Other blog posts will be forthcoming in the next week.

Why I am no longer a Calvinist!

Thanks for stopping by and Merry Christmas!

Soli Deo gloria,
Adam

Procrasted posts or blog backsliding?

2011-12-21T21:32:00.001-05:00

I realize that it has been almost two months since my last post and that there has been a somewhat sporadic elements to my posts over the past 9 months. Am I intentionally procrastinating or backsliding on my blogs? No...and yes! No in that I have not decidedly relaxed my number of posts but yes in that I have given them less of a priority. Not that my blogs have ever taken priority over the more important things in my walk with Christ, but I have been rather occupied with what I believe is more necessary than simply posting thoughts or our latest evangelistic endeavors.

Much has happened for my family and I over this past year. I started out the year in a fog of transition concerning my understanding of the role of family in regards to the local church. By God's sovereignty, He led me to several ministries that provided invaluable resources to guide me through the theological thickets. Interestingly though, the issue wasn't just about age-segregation in the local church. It was instead more about how the full scope of how the church operates and functions in regards to what Scripture reveals. While many would wish to say they hold Scripture as their sole, divinely-revealed authority their actions prove to the contrary.

Not wanting to be the ivory-tower critic who casts down condemnations to the masses, I took a step back and looked at everything I had done in my short time of ministry first. What I came to discover was that I too was pragmatic in areas of my thinking. I had justified the creation of church positions, the employment of certain methods and preaching practices in the pulpit and on the streets, the position of homeschooling versus public schooling, and role of family ministry more on results that biblical teaching. Furthermore, I had yet to completely solidify my doctrinal stance.

In order to expand on each of these, I will be posting to the other blogs I write for: Sola Saturated and A Gospel Driven family. I will post links on this blog to the others as they are created. Suffice it to say, my stance on homeschooling, family-integrated church, preaching, church positions, family ministry, and the like have not changed but have instead become strengthened through biblical doctrines.

I am praying to have these posted during my small break between seminary semesters. As always, thanks for praying and for stopping by.

Soli Deo gloria,
Adam

Project 180 outreach

2011-10-29T09:02:00.000-04:00

For the past several months an outreach operation has been inplace across the nation and in Canada to get a powerful Christian documentaryby Living Waters into thehands of college students. The DVD, known as Project 180, has been viewedover 1 million times since its release earlier this month and now has beenplaced into the hands of close to 200,000 individuals.

I was blessed to be one of the teamleaders for two campuses: Elizabeth City State University and OldDominion University. Since the campuses are an hour apart from eachother, I asked a brother in Christ and fellow Ambassador's Academy graduateChris Jones to be my point of contact on the ODU campus while I was at ECSU.

We needed to keep this outreachunder wraps so its opponents would not have the opportunity to block ourefforts. Over the months I recruited a few trusted brothers in Christ tohelp. Several weeks before the outreach, I took a small recon teamto ODU to scope out good locations to hand out the DVD's. We encounteredno opposition and passed out several hundred tracts in the process. Before I knew it, the day had arrived.

With both teams fully stocked withDVD's, it was time to put the plan into action.

I started out with a team headingto the campus of ECSU in Elizabeth City, NC @ 8 am with 1000 DVD's. Theteam included myself, my 6 year old son Ephraim as well as two fellow brothersKyle and Roland. I had packed two bags with the DVD's and used a cart tocarry the rest of the boxes. After praying, we split up on campus with myson and I taking station near the Student Center.

Within a few hours we had handedout the first 200 and were already three quarters of the way through the nextbox. The campus slowly came to life and we almost couldn't keep up withthe number of students. My son was a great help as he darted back andforth trying to beat me in the number he could hand out. Around 11am Iwas approached by campus security who soon directed me to an office to getpermission to continue. I had spoke with Michael Marcavage of"Repent America" beforehand and found out that there is a law in NCand VA that prohibits us from remaining on campus once we are asked toleave. The loophole though is that as long as a organization sponsors us,we can stay there. While it took over an hour to get a signature from asponsoring group on campus, it did open doors to future on-campus ministrythrough this group.

We soon continued handing out theDVD's. Some students approached us after watching it saying it waspowerful and encouraged others to watch it immediately. By 1:30 pm we hadcovered the entire campus with almost every student now telling us they alreadyhad a copy. Here is the testimonial from one of the guys on that team:

"Truth be told I was tryingto "get out" of going Tuesday to the college. I had all kinds ofscary scenarios dancing in my head. Eating breakfast I remember saying : whatwill this day bring? Once there I realized this was a "covert militaryaction" and all the students were still asleep. First person walks by..."good morning, did you get one of these ?" Some would ask: what's itabout ? I was cool as a cucumber.."It's a historical Documentary about howhistory repeats itself." Oh OK, thanks ! I got too close to a Frat houseone time, they told me to "move along"... Then Adam got nabbed so wehad to stop. Went to work later with a new joy. Guys at work wanted to knowwhere I had been.. so we had a good conversations for the whole afternoon. Itwas a good day!"-Kyle Mengel, ECSU team

This was the first time Kyle hadever done anything like this. I have invited out for our outreachesbefore and was thrilled when he finally agreed to come. I believe thiswas a first huge step for him to fully engage in boldly, biblically sharing theGospel.

Chris Jones rallied the ODU teamtogether and hit the campus with 4000 DVD's at 9am. I received calls fromthe during the morning updating me ont heir progress. They facedabsolutely no opposition and even handed the DVD to passing security and professors. They had several great 1-2-1 encounters and finished the day around 3pmwith 3200 DVD's handed out. Some of them wanted to continue handing themout and went to the Norfolk State University campus where they gave away anadditional 600 DVD's. I was later told that a rumor had spread on the ODUcampus earlier that the DVD contained a virus. This had gotten to the NSUcampus and some students were asking about such. This was an apparentattempt by the enemy after they had caught on to what we were doing.

The reports from the other teamsflooded in later in the day and, even now we are hearing news of how the DVDhas impacted people. If you have yet to watch it for yourself, pleasevisit www.180movie.com and doso.

Thanks for stopping by!

To God be the glory,

Adam

180 movie

2011-09-25T14:48:00.000-04:00

Watch this powerful movie and see what made several of these pro-abortion advocates make a complete "180" on their position.

Even when it seems like you are preaching to no one...

2011-07-09T07:32:00.007-04:00

Last Saturday, Steven Long and I went to Waterfront Park for some open-air preaching. During one of Steve's messages I took the photo you see to the right.

You can see Steven circled in the yellow and the large open space in front of him. I took this picture because it was a great reminder to me of how we are simply commanded to "Go!" and should not be concerned with how many people we can reach or how large of a crowd we can gather.

We are simply laborers in God's harvest, He alone brings forth the fruit. We are proclaimers of Christ, it is the Father who draws them unto Him. We are responsible to proclaim the only Way of salvation, but the Holy Spirit applies that finished work.

Even when it seems like you are preaching to no one, you are preaching to an audience of One. Don't get so focused on crowds or numbers. Focus on Christ!

To God be the glory,

Adam

Reforming Missions part 2

2011-05-30T13:34:00.011-04:00

Continuing from the previous blog, I will now attempt to unravel the last point made: "Lack of sincere and consistent faithfulness".

In His final earth-bound words to His disciples, Christ reiterated the Great Commission to them.

But you shall receive power, the Holy Spirit coming upon you. And you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth. (Acts 1:8, MKJV)

After this, Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father. What an incredible departing commission! Notices that He said "You will" not "You should" or "You can be". He said they would be witnesses in these areas.

What has struck me most over the past few years is the ripple effect this passage seems to take.

The commission starts with a focus in the city where the Holy Spirit would come to indwell the disciples only a short time later and moves outward. Upon the martyr of Stephen, Acts 8:1 tells us that great persecution came upon the disciples and many were scattered throughout the land. This was a fulfillment of what Christ had said concerning the scope of their witness. But do not let that stop us from thinking that Acts 1:8 was only a prophecy from our King. I believe the underlying principle is similar to that of 1 Timothy 3:4-5. It shows us a importance of faithfulness in sharing the Gospel.

The disciples would first be faithful locally in Jerusalem. Here they would testify of the risen Christ and proclaim Him to those who had formerly rejected Him. Keep in mind that those in Jerusalem likely knew many of the disciples personally, some even before they became born-again. To those who knew them, such a contrast to their former lives would have drawn much attention.

Then their witness was to move outward to their fellow Jews living nearby in Judea. This meant more of these people would be less likely to know them as personally as those in Jerusalem. They had undoubtedly heard of Jesus but may not have been as intimate with the details of His crucifixion as those in Jerusalem.

The next ripple would take them outside of their culture to the Samaritans. The Samaritans were a people descended from the Jews who had returned from the Babylonian captivity to marry pagan Gentiles living nearby. The legalistic Jews of Jesus' day saw Samaritans as half-breeds unworthy of even mentioning the name of YWHW. Christ showed continual compassion on them in both His treatment of the woman at the well (John 4:1-26) and in His parable which including a compassionate Samaritan (Luke 10:30-34). But for the disciples, to take the Gospel to a people they were culturally taught to despise was to move them further from their former comfort zone and reflect the love for the lost we are all to have.

The final ripple encompassed the rest of the world specifically seeming to indicate the importance to evangelizing Gentiles. As if reaching out to the Samaritans was not uncomfortable enough, they would soon reach out multiple people groups, almost all of whom were under Roman control.

Two common themes emerge: continual movement out of one's comfort zone and a focus on local faithfulness prior to expanding outward missions. The latter of these should make us stop and ponder the present-day implications.

Imagine you are a church leader and someone comes to you who wants to lead a Bible study. For the sake of the analogy, let's just say our person is a faithfully married father of three. Here is a question most would never think of asking this man: "How faithful are you to have regular family worship/Bible study at home?" If he replies that he rarely, if ever, spends time in the Word with his family, should he be consider to lead a Bible study for others? If he is not faithful in his first task to lead his family, why should we think he would be faithful to lead others?

Now imagine someone comes to you and says they want to go on a mission trip to (name your place). While there are a laundry list of qualifications you could come up with, has it ever crossed your mind to ask this one: "How faithful have you been to go on missions in our local area?" If they are not faithful enough to share the Gospel with strangers locally, why then would we think they would be faithful to do so elsewhere?

I believe we have grossly missed the mark when it comes to missions. We think of missions as something that takes place in another state or country. People clamor at the opportunity for their church to fund them to go to exotic locations yet think almost nothing of hitting the dingy, dirty streets of their local town. The opportunity is always there and in greater availability that a foreign mission trip. Yet every time they are asked to join an evangelism team to share the Gospel only minutes from where they live they almost always seem to find an excuse.

We must admit that we have failed in missions. America is now the world's third largest mission field. Faithful disciples from other countries where we once sent numerous missionaries are now flocking to America. Why? Because we have failed to biblically, faithfully, and regularly carry out local missions. We spend a large amount of money to fly halfway across the world to rebuild a bathhouse, never to share the actual Gospel of Christ, and come back with pictures and a sore upper back from the numerous pats we gave ourselves from doing such a noble deed.

Brothers and sisters, we need to wake up! To reform missions, we must start in our own Jerusalem, which is our own homes. If we are unfaithful to share Christ there, then we should not leave the city gates to venture onto any other mission field. We then must move out locally into our towns and cities that surround our church buildings. We must blanket the community with proclaimers of the biblical Gospel. We must show ourselves to be disciples of the One who left His heavenly throne to be the Good News for those whom God would redeem.

Let us raise the bar for potential foreign missionaries, both long and short term. Let there be a greater requirement of having them show themselves faithful in the home first and then locally before we endorse and fund their overseas mission. Let us not rush into endorsing or permitting a potential missionary before they are thoroughly examined (1 Timothy 5:22).

Towards the end of the parable of the unjust steward in Luke 16, Jesus summarizes this teaching in verse 10 by saying "He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much". I believe the principle taught here is vitally applicable to missions. We will not be faithful to share the Gospel anywhere if we are not faithful to do so locally.

As always, may God be glorified as we seek to proclaim Him to the lost. Thanks for stopping by.

Until the whole world hears,
Pastor Adam

Reforming Missions

2011-05-30T07:37:00.005-04:00

"They who preach not the Gospel in their own Jerusalem should not venture outside the city gates into Judea or any farther. The Gospel preaching begins in the home and ripples outward onto the streets of the town into which God has placed you. From those streets we may proceed to preach further outward but only inasmuch as we are faithful to preach where we now are."

This was a quote from FB I posted and reposted recently. A few things I have heard and seen prompted me to do so and I felt it necessary to explain a little further what is mean by this. I will take a few blog posts to do this in since I want to ensure I do not foster any misunderstandings in writing this.

First let me say I am in no way against foreign missions both long and short term. I think anytime you can faithfully and biblically share the Gospel you should go and do so. I know of many faithful disciples who do just this on a regular basis.

Second, I am in no way saying everyone has to go on a foreign mission. Some know that God has planted them firmly on their local soil and faithfully minister and evangelize there.

The direction of this quote is towards those who almost unknowingly and hypocritically engage in non-local missions while they are unwilling to share the Gospel locally. They spend thousands of dollars to travel overseas yet when they are asked to hit the streets locally to share Christ with the lost in their own towns they refuse to do so usually citing time as an issue. Think of it, how many churches do you know of that plan "mission trips" yet do almost nothing to spread the Good News where they are?

I think the reasons for doing this are numerous but I will try to narrow them down a bit. I want to be loving but brutally honest in these, so hold on tight. Let's tackle them one by one:

Wrong motivation

This can be broken down into numerous subcategories. For example, some go on foreign missions as a sort of vacation. They see it as an opportunity to see an area of the world they may never have visited before. Others want to spend some time with friends, either those going on the mission trip or those on the field where they will be "visiting". Don't get me wrong, fellowship is a good part of evangelism. Some of the sweetest fellowship I have ever experienced has been when I was out sharing the Gospel with other disciples. But I know for a fact that many go on foreign missions primarily (key word) as either a vacation or to spend time with friends and not because they want to verbally share the Gospel.

Wrong understanding

Probably one of the biggest detriments to missions are those who do not have a biblical understanding of the purpose of a mission trip. The primary purpose is to verbally, faithfully, and biblically share the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ with the lost. If you are bringing items along with you that the people in that area need, that is fantastic. But do not let your good charity to meet their temporal need replace your command to address their eternal need. We are to show good will to others, especially those who are most affected (James 1:27), because this reflects the good will and general grace to which God has showed us. But that is not evangelism nor should it ever be the sole purpose of a foreign mission trip. Go help rebuild a village, bring needy items to its children, help in their planting and harvest. But if you fail to share the Gospel with them they will die with strong homes, well-dressed and happy children, full bellies and filled pots and face God on the Day of Judgment still dead in their sins and destined to Hell. A right understanding of the purpose of missions is vital.

Lack of sincere and consistent faithfulness

This is where I suspect some may get a little frazzled and where the quote above comes into play. There is a clear pattern we see in Scripture concerning a sort of order or precedence of where we share the Gospel. First, we see that the home is to be the first mission field and place of ministry. The principle of 1 Timothy 3:4-5 is that a Pastor (Elder) should be faithful in his own home first. If he is not, then he will not be faithful in the ministry of the church over which God has placed him. While this verse speaks directly to the Pastor, do not forget that the Pastor is to model faithfulness for his local congregation as well. If the Pastor must be faithful to the first ministry of his home, then all disciples are to follow the same pattern. The overarching point in relation to evangelism is to first be faithful witnesses in our homes.

But I believe there is a continuing principle at work elsewhere as well. Understanding it could help bring reformation to missions and biblical emphasis on local evangelism.

I'll tackle more of this in part 2. Thanks for stopping by!

Because He lives,

Pastor Adam

(P.S.-None of this or the following blog implies anything of the mission trip or the gentleman in the picture above.)

2011 Potato Festival

2011-05-24T22:10:00.004-04:00

On May 21st, I organized an outreach at the Elizabeth City Potato Festival. I was blessed to be accompanied by Mike Stockwell, Steven Long, Chris Jones, Chris Basnight and his son, and another brother from Chris Basnight's church. Here is what Chris Jones had to say about the day:

"I had several one on one's. One was with a young man named Ryan. He initially walked up to us on the corner with "free hi-five's" written in red lipstick on his forehead. I chose to give him his hi-five, and that started a good 20 minute conversation. He had a worldly view on the afterlife.. we all get to do whatever we feel we want when we die. He listened intently to the Gospel. When we were done, he thanked me for taking the time to speak to him and said he would think about what I told him. He said he's trying to figure things out. I left him with a copy of "Why Christianity".

I also was able to speak to three young teenagers who were sitting on the sidewalk. I gave them each a million dollar bill and asked them what they thought would happen to them when they died. They sheepishly said heaven, but clearly did not seem confident about it or want to volunteer much information. So I told them how a person can know for sure how they get to heaven. They listened very politely and answered questions as I took them through the good person test. They clearly heard that if they died in their sins that God would give them what they deserve - hell. I then shared with them the Gospel. They still didn't have much to say, but they did listen and pay attention. I thanked them for their patience and politeness and asked them to think about what I told them... they said they would.

Finally there was a young man who saw me walking with the "are you ready" cross and said "ready for what?" I said ready for what happens when he dies. We had a good discussion on what happens when somebody dies, and although he didn't believe me, he said he respected my beliefs and was glad to have talked with me. He also was very polite even though he clearly didn't believe me. I gave him and his two friends a copy of "Why Christianity" and he said he'd read it."

As a team, we were all able to engage numerous people in 1-2-1 witnessing. Our open-air preaching for that day...well that's another story.

When we arrived we set up the preaching stool on the street corner next to the a table handing out free, fresh french fries (a staple at the festival every year). After only a few minutes of preaching a few members of the festival committee showed up and told us we were not allowed to be there. We simply shrugged it off and were met by 4 uniformed officers shortly thereafter. I spoke with the officers off to the side and they simply reaffirmed our rights of free speech, thanked us, and were on their way. Believing that was the end of it, we continued preaching.

Minutes later and officer named Sergeant Pureza, who was wearing civilian clothes while still carrying his gun and badge, came to talk. Unlike the officers before him, he said we had to leave because, as he stated, the City Manager said we were trespassing. You read it right, TRESPASSING on a public sidewalk. I asked to speak to the City Manager myself but was able to get no where with either him or the Sergeant. The City Manager soon contacted the city's contracted attorney who reaffirmed that we could be arrested for trespassing.

During this time, Mike Stockwell had contacted Michael Marcavage of Repent America to step in for us. Mr. Marcavage had sent a letter to the City Manager citing numerous court cases that reaffirmed our rights. In the letter he also asked that the City Manager remove the restriction he had placed on us. While waiting for the City Manager to respond we complied with the request of the Sergeant and moved to a festival perimeter. Unfortunately, the first location was a block away from the event. Even with amplification we could not be heard by anyone in the festival.

We soon moved to another perimeter location which proved to be a little better. We were at least in earshot of a few people. We actually had one heckler who helped to gather a small crowd for a short while. I decided to test the waters one more time and preached a block into the festival without incident. However, we decided to stick to 1-2-1 and tracting for the rest of the day.

Some of us were able to stay into the early evening continuing to witness and hand out tracts. Countless people heard the Gospel that day and it put a big dent in my tract supply as well.

As I type this blog, the Alliance Defense Fund is currently reviewing the violation of our free speech rights by the City Manager. At their request, I have provided them with pictures, emails, and a copy of the letter from Mr. Marcavage. With plans to preach at the upcoming 4th of July festivities, I am praying for a favorable and quick resolution.

Thank you to those who prayed during this outreach and for those who were able to come out. May God be glorified as we seek to exalt His name to the nations.

To keep up with more Intrepid Evangelist outreaches, please check out the website's calendar.

Until the whole world hears,
Adam

Mission Good Friday 2011

2011-04-24T18:32:00.007-04:00

This past Friday (April 22nd) was the third annual Project Ezra event "Mission Good Friday". This entails reading through Matthew 26 through 28. I teamed up with a few brothers from southeastern Virginia for reading in two different areas: downtown Norfolk and Town Point Centre in Virginia Beach.

I set out for Norfolk and arrived around 1:15 that afternoon. I had about 15 minutes until I was to meet up for the first reading with Jeff Keeney. I had stocked up on tracts and brought along my "Are you ready?" cross and began my 2 block walk to where we would meet (see the Civil War memorial picture to the right).

Within the first block, the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to share the Gospel with two men, Vernon and Malik, who were sitting in a small park. For the first few minutes it was just Vernon and myself. Vernon claimed to be a Christian but had never heard of Good Friday. He had some knowledge of Scripture but no more than would be expected of anyone else. As I continued and began sharing the Law with him, Malik came and sat down beside Vernon. It did not seem that the two knew each other but Vernon seemed to be almost unaware of the new guest.

I concluded the witnessing encounter with the two of them, presenting the cross and leaving them with a few tracts. Just around the corner was where I was to meet up with Jeff. Even though he was a little late, it gave me a great opportunity to stand around with the cross and hand out tracts.

When Jeff arrived we decided to divide up the reading by chapters. Jeff took chapters 26 and 28 while I read the chapter in between. At the conclusion of chapter 28, Jeff preached the Gospel and exposited on a few sections of what we had read. We traded off holding the cross during the reading. I stepped up to preach for a bit before we decided to read through the passages a second time.

This time I took chapters 26 and 28 while Jeff took the chapter in between. During this reading a man named Joseph stopped and listened intently. As I finished the last chapter I preached on the idolatry of Judas and how many today have created a Jesus that is more desirable to them and others. Jeff concluded his encounter with Joseph taking down his information and promising to contact him. Jeff told me later that as he was witnessing to the Joseph tears were swelling up in his eyes. I pray that Good Friday was Joseph's first Good Friday as a born-again disciple of Jesus Christ.

Around 4 pm Jeff and I parted ways as I headed towards Virginia Beach. The weather deteriorated a bit on the way as a bit of rain started to creep in. About an hour later Chris Jones arrived and we headed for the Town Centre. I setup the PA and we followed the same pattern as Jeff and I earlier. A short while later we were met by Don, another street preacher who is skilled in using sketch board art to draw a crowd.

Not long after Don arrived I found myself in the fellowship of several other believers from Calvary Revival Church of Chesapeake. This was a church I had been looking into for the past several weeks (but that is a story for my other blog). These brothers and sisters had a heart for the lost and a desire to glorify God.

A security guard for the area approached me to say there were a few complaints. I thanked him for letting us know while noting that we were not on private property. However, about an hour later he told us he would have to call the police if we did not leave because of a few more complaints. The police showed up to confirm that we were doing nothing wrong and offered a little advice, which was biblically sound. The officer even cited Scripture showing that he understood what we were actually out there doing.

A rather irate gentleman asked to speak with the officer once I left. This was also a man who had cursed at one of the group when they tried to hand him a tract earlier. Something tells me he was the one responsible for bringing out the police that evening.

Chris and I both needed to get home and parted with our brothers and sisters.

Throughout the day, I was blessed to be a part of reading for this mission three different times. We have no idea as to what the Lord will do through these readings but I praise God that He used such a wretch as me.

For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring out and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do.

(Isaiah 55:10-11)

Thanks for stopping by!

Yoga in public schools (A letter to a public school teacher)

2011-02-20T21:41:00.003-05:00

The following is a letter I wrote a few years ago when we lived in Juneau, AK and our two oldest children were in public school. I wrote this in response to what my daughter had told me she was being forced to participate in during her homeroom. The Lord used this incident to convict both my wife and I that homeschool was the best and most biblical choice for our family.

My name is Adam Gray and I am the father of Savannah. She informed me this evening that you have been practicing yoga techniques in class. I have properly informed my daughter concerning the purpose of yoga and she will no longer be participating. I am a Pastor of a local church and my daughter is a young Christian. My wife and I teach our children Christian values and the truth of God’s Word and will not allow the indoctrination of our children by world religions, cultic mindsets, or occult teachings. She will be given the opportunity to opt out of this practice without retribution or condescension. Further, I believe you need to carefully consider what it is you are teaching and leading these public school children through.

While you may personally practice yoga and think it is nothing more than a calming or “centering” technique that can help the students focus more on their work what you may not be aware of is that you are openly advocating, leading, and teaching a spiritual (occult) practice in the classroom.

Yoga is one of the six schools of Hinduism which centers on physical discipline with the ultimate goal of putting one’s the body in a state where meditation on the “One” becomes possible. An additional focus in this practice centers on the idea of Chakras. According to this system of belief there are seven Chakras located in areas such as the head, throat, chest, abdomen, etc. This is not merely a stretching or focusing exercise. I workout myself and do not need to implement yoga “stretching” to increase my effectiveness.

Here is a quote from a Yoga practitioner Gopi Krishna from his article The True Aim of Yoga; "All the systems of yoga... are designed to bring about those psychosomatic changes in the body which are essential for the metamorphosis of consciousness. A new [divine] center—presently dormant in the average man and woman—has to be activated and a more powerful stream of psychic energy must [be awakened]”. This further substantiates the fact of yoga’s real intent.

Hatha Yoga is one of the more common types and attempts to institute personality change by changing the body so it influences the mind. Yoga practitioner Deborah Rozman has authored two books on meditation for children. In one of her chapters entitled “Yoga Exercises for the Young” she states “The real purpose of yoga exercises is to put the body in a state where meditation on the One is possible.... Physical yoga is called hatha yoga.... Hatha yoga is balancing the spiritual and physical and male and female energies (the polarities) in the body." This is clearly a spiritual (occult)practice and has no place being led by a teacher in a public school classroom.

While Yoga may seemingly attempt to bring health and balance to the mind and body, its proper and intended meaning is to develop the awareness of one’s own inner divinity and enforce the practice of living out that inner divine power in one’s own life.

Yoga is more than simply relaxing the mind and the body. It clearly belongs in the category of spiritual practice because of the occultist goals it sets for those who participate. The real purpose is not merely a “sound” mind and “healthy” body but spiritual (occult) enlightenment.

I strongly urge you to remove this practice from your classroom and inform any other teachers who may be attempting to integrate it as well. While your intent may not be to indoctrinate these children with an occult belief system that is exactly what is happening. I will be informing the Principal of the school as well to ensure that this spiritual practice comes to a stop in a public school.

Please understand, my desire is not to cause animosity among the faculty but to ensure my children are there for educational reasons and not occult indoctrination. If you wish to contact me, my cell phone number is XXXXXX. Thank you for your time and dedication to ensuring the children are equipped in their educational needs.

"Creation or Evolution?" by Katie Follett

2011-02-20T21:28:00.001-05:00

Evolution and Creation are hot topics in Christianity today. Many Christians prefer to simply keep their heads low, or sometimes in the sand, at the mention of Creation. However, others like 16 year old Katie, are bold enough to biblically tackle the issue head-on. Enjoy this well researched and thoughtful paper in its full and unedited form.

-Pastor Adam

Creation or Evolution?

A Research Paper by Katie Follett

Why are there so many arguments about the difference in a six day creation and the theory of evolution? Why can’t they both be right? Is one of them a better explanation of the origins of life than the other? These are some of the questions I am going to try and answer by comparing Creationism and the theory of evolution.

Many people say that Creation should not be considered or even taught as one of the theories for the beginning of life because it is too “religious”. While it is a very accurate explanation some, but not all of, the reason that it is accepted is because of faith. When Interviewee Pastor Gray was asked why he chose to believe in Creation he simply stated (5)“Because God says it. Plain and simple… there is no good alternative” Some are set on the fact that this view of Creation should only be considered as a faith-based belief. When Interviewee Dion Oxman was asked his opinion on creation he said this, (6) “I think [a six day] Creation is more of a belief than a scientific fact, so from a scientific perspective I have trouble with it. From a faith-based perspective I don’t have any trouble with it whatsoever so long as it is not taught within the context of science.” Others say that because the origins of life cannot be observed or repeated the belief you have in them (3) “can only be achieved by faith, not sight.” You cannot have creation done over again because, “The Creator does not create at the whim of a scientist.” Also, evolution, if it is happening it is progressing too slowly to be observed. There are evolutionists who say that evolution can be proved through the theory of the “Big Bang”. This is the theory, that (3) “a really old explosion of some unknown kind supposedly converted energy into matter. It [the explosion] may have been caused by a gravitational collapse, maybe in space.” Those who disagree with the “Big Bang” theory and are in favor of the six-day creation and support their belief in that theory by bringing to light a very large flaw in the theory of the “Big Bang.” When Pastor Gray was asked if he thought the “Big Bang” could be valid he said, (5)“No. Definitely not…some people say God said it “Bang” it was created, but God simply spoke it [creation]. The “Big Bang” is not possible and it’s not even a good theory. It’s actually really bad because they don’t have any proof.” If what Pastor Gray said is true, and there is no proof for the “Big Bang” or for evolution why is the theory of evolution still around? Why don’t evolutionists just “go along” with the creationist? It would be easier than defending a proof-less theory. Mr. Oxman was asked these questions and is quoted (6) “Easier? Sure! The correct way? No… the path of least resistance is always the easiest way but it doesn’t necessarily make it the right way…” Apparently Mr. Oxman believes that evolution is the “right way,” so let’s take a quick look at what evolution is.

The theory of Evolution is the thought that, (4) “All life belongs to one huge family tree. Some branches are plants, other branches are animals, and the sub-branches of animals are the starfish, the insects, the mammals, and so forth, everything.” All living things are somehow related, including humans, apes, and trees. An evolutionary biologist stated that (4) “50-90 % of all of our genes are shared in common with other species; depending on how related we are to them.” Pastor Gray believes otherwise and says (5)“It [evolution] is man’s idea of trying to explain where we came from and man’s way to try and remove God from the equation” Now please pause and try to understand how valid this point is. If you think about it, not having a God would make everything different. There would be no life after death and no punishments for sins (or wrong doings). Without a god, there is no one to answer to and people may have been trying to rid themselves of that important factor. Mr. Oxman said that (6)“Evolution is change…gradual change on long time scales. Not in human terms.” Therefore, evolution cannot be observed because it takes too long. If it takes so long, why do people find it so easy to believe? Mr. Oxman stated that the reason he chooses to believe in evolution is because (6) “… It’s part of my education. I was educated with a scientific background…I was kind of steered toward having a scientific view of it [evolution]… I take a very scientific approach to things like that [creation] and I was presented with all the facts and reached the same inevitable conclusion that life evolved on earth as opposed to it being created.” Some people wonder why both theories can’t be correct. Can they? I personally don’t believe that they can agree at all. In fact one man said (4) “Make no mistake about it. In the Darwinist view, God has nothing to with evolution.” Still, even though the two theories are polar opposites there are people who try to hold on to their view of the origin of life by evolution and simply “add” God to it and vice versa. Mr. Oxman says that he personally has (6)“friends that are very scientific and at the same time very religious…” and they compensate for it by saying “Who said the days are twenty-four hours to the Lord?” One scientist decided to completely disregard the six day creation and had this to say, It is “Probably too late to disentangle intelligent design from it’s commingling with religion.” So, again we must ask ourselves that if this is true why do certain people decide to believe in a six day 144 hour creation? Why Don’t Creationist just go along with evolutionist? When asked this question Pastor Adam responded, (5)“One of the reasons is because even though the majority thinks it is okay doesn’t mean it is true. Another reason is if evolution is true you would have to apply it everywhere in your life. That’s something called social Darwinism which means if you didn’t come from anything and you’re a random chance of events than you have no purpose. Nothing has any meaning, you mean nothing, you mean just as much as the bacteria you might wipe off you’re shoe when walking outside.” I agree with this and I don’t agree with people who try to “add” God to evolution.

If there is so much disagreement concerning the two theories and their reliability and if the two can be joined what is being taught in the schools? It saddens me to tell you that evolution is the focal point of most science texts today. Joan Roughgarden author of “Evolution and Christian Faith” said that “single tree” origins and the evolution of species must be taught in all school science texts. If not it will(4) “cripple the minds of children.”

Since this is permitted to be taught in schools what kind of evidence do the schools have to support this theory? Where does the evidence come from? Apparently it comes from the fossils. Fossils supposedly show that new animals came from ancient ones. They also tell the students that the earth is approximately 4.6 BILLION years old. The “early” earth had (1)“seas of molten lava, and a harsh pinkish yellow sky that lacked the oxygen we needed to survive.” How are they so sure about this though if there wasn’t enough oxygen to survive? Over looking this though, the “early” earth (1)“cooled over time, and as it cooled, lava turned into rock and water condensed from vapor, setting the stage for life.” (1)The students are also told that they evolved from the first fish which is approximately five hundred million years old. This fish used to live in the water but later on it decided to live on the land. Originally the fish was simply bacteria that evolved to a fish over millions of years. The reason that we aren’t fish is because every fish differed ever so slightly from the last one until we were finally human. What about the dinosaurs? Where did they all go? (1)The students are told that the reason all the dinosaurs are extinct is because a huge asteroid hit the earth with the force of “183 trillion tons of TNT” the rock and ash produced from collision of rock and earth buried the dinosaurs and made the fossils. (1)This was all speculated because of one layer of clay.

What do Creationist have to say about all the things about evolution that kids are learning? And are the things that they are learning true? What kind of proof is there against Evolution? Pastor Gray says that there is proof. (5)“First I would say the Bible. That’s your first evidence. God says it, that’s His word, that’s how He did it. I would say that Creation itself is proof, just like you can’t have a piece of art without some one to create it- the artist; you can’t have a building without a builder. You cannot have Creation without a Creator. And that’s just using basic logic. And I would say maybe a third evidence…is the fossil record. The fossil record proves that there was a worldwide global flood. If there was a world wide global flood we would find “billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth” and when you dig down you find “billions of dead things buried in rock layers laid down by water all over the earth.” (3)One thing found that contradicted the evolutionary “fact” that most dinosaurs were extinct over 1300 million years ago is that an ancient Mayan sculpture of a reptile like bird that bears great resemblance to the dinosaurs archaeornis and archaeopteryx. The statue found was only 1000-5000 years old. It could mean that dinosaurs weren’t extinct yet. Also as Pastor Gray said, the fossils are also proof against evolution. (2)Certain fossils especially those of jellyfish, still contain fleshy portions proving that they were buried before they had a chance to decay. (2)Another example is fossils that have been formed where fish were eating each other and others where fish were giving birth. As we know it does not take millions of years to eat or to give birth. This shows that fossils do not take millions of years to form. When asked if he thought that fossils took millions of years to form Pastor Adam responded, (5)“There’s too much evidence to the contrary, for example, there are several layers specifically where there are huge tree trunks that divide through the layers. If we went by evolutionary time scales that would mean that that tree stayed in the same position for millions of years while the rock layers built up around it… that tree would have to decay but so slowly that it would have to keep it’s regular form…” (5)He then compares it to a tree that has been felled and is laying in a yard, “… about thirty or so after it’s dead it’s… crumbled up mulch. There’s nothing left of it.” If so much information has been found that contradicts evolution, what do people who believe in evolution do about it? (2)Well, at first when evolution was a new theory and there were only a few “gaps” people thought that they would “fill in” over time as more information was found. They “gaps” didn’t “fill in” though. They multiplied and grew larger. Many evolutionary scientists today do not even to attempt to have a theory that says how life began.

What about “ape-men” and the “missing link” though? Are they real? Many stories claim that ape-like fossils have been found but as one man put it (2)“It is now universally known that Piltdown man [one of the ape men] was a hoax, and yet it was in text books for more than forty years [after the fact]” (2)The more famous Neanderthal man was brought into being from one tooth of an extinct pig and yet still people believe he was real no matter how large the lack of evidence is. There is no “link” missing or not between humans and apes, but what about humans and fish, or reptiles and birds? The “link” that was supposed to relate reptiles and birds, was the archaeopteryx. (3)The fossil of this bird showed that it had teeth and is one of the “most emphasized” examples in most science texts because it is thought to be in one of the transisting stages. This is an incorrect assumption. (3)The archaeopteryx is one hundred percent bird. Just because it differed from other birds doesn’t mean it isn’t a bird. Just because dolphins have different features than humans doesn’t make them not mammals. The “missing link” that supposedly connect fish and humans was the coelacanth. The coelacanth was a fish that was believed by evolutionist to have feet-like fins and was one of the ancestors of the fish that walked on land. (2)Several coelacanths were found near Madagascar in 1958 in the same exact condition that their fossils were with no changes. (3)They had no feet or lungs.

The last contradiction that I’m going to look at is the “geologic column.” The geologic column is what evolutionist use to date layers of rock and fossils. Each layers age depends on the one above or below it.(2) Almost nowhere in the world can the “geologic column” be found. Most places have over half of the column missing. (2)“Only 15-20% of Earth’s land surface has even one-third of these periods in the correct consecutive order… more than 150 million years of this imaginary column are missing” including in the Grand Canyon. Evolutionists use this column to date fossils and bones that they find in the layers of the Earth.

In conclusion, I would say that out of the two theories the theory of Creation is not only more logical but also a better explanation for the origin of life. The reason there are so many arguments about the difference in a six day creation and the theory of evolution is because they differ so much. As was said before a six-day Creation is the more logical and more valid of the two theories but having a Someone to answer to is one of the reasons it is rejected so often. We, as humans are created in the image of God, Not apes or fish.

So God created man in His own image,

In the image of God created He him,

Male and female created He them.

Genesis 1:27

Works Cited

1. Dinosaurs: the most complete, up to date encyclopedia for dinosaur lovers of all ages.

Written by: Dr. Thomas R. Holtz Jr.

Illustrated by: Luis V. Rey

2. In the Beginning

Written by: Walt Brown, Ph.D

3. Scientific Creationism

Prepared by: the technical staff and Consultants of the Institute for Creation Research.

Edited by: Henry M. Morris, Ph.D

4. Evolution and Christian Faith

Written by: Joan Roughgarden

5. Pastor Adam - Interviewee

6. Dion Oxman – Interviewee

7. Dictionary (used for definitions of cover)

Houghton Mifflin Company

Website changes and ministry update

2011-02-20T18:24:00.006-05:00

If you have recently visited the IE website you have noticed that the site is currently under going an overhaul. It will be down for at least the next week as I reformat a few things. One of the reasons for this is to create a more fluid outlet so that those who we have shared the Gospel with to get in contact with someone in this ministry. I am looking to provide an opportunity for them to request free material and for new converts to link up with maturing believers in a local church for ongoing discipleship.

I had previously maintained a page for reviews and articles I have written. I will be moving this from the site to this blog. The next several blogs will be these articles I have written reposted here for the purpose of linking them to the site.

I will also be creating a donation page. Some have already asked how they can contribute and hopefully this page will help to answer this. While this ministry is not registered as a non-profit we are able to receive items you can donate to help us reach the lost. This ministry is accountable to my local church but it is not directly a part of the church's budget. Most of what we have been working with for our outreach has been coming directly out of pocket.

We have started reaching out to the local college campus with the Gospel. While we have not encountered strong opposition as of yet but we have also not open-air preached on campus yet. I imagine this will bring a little more attention. I am also considering a few other ideas for the ministry bit have been experiencing some set back recently. I would ask that you especially keep me in your prayers that I may remain faithful to that which God has called me to and not become distracted by other things.

As always, thank you for your prayers.

In Christ,

Pastor Adam

Why I love junk mail

2011-02-10T17:09:00.003-05:00

I just love getting credit card applications and other junk mail. My wife actually sets it aside for me so I can tear it open when I get home. Do I have a debt problem? No!

Companies have whole departments set aside just to hunt down your name and address so they can send you applications, notices, and other "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunities. They send these out in stacks, often clogging unsuspecting mailboxes each day. Most simply toss them aside without a second thought. But me, I rip them open and pull out that wonderful prepaid envelope. There it is, a postage free envelope they stuffed in their in the hopes that you would fill out the application or send in your information. But I found another purpose for these handy little nuisances.

I send them back, but not with my information. I send them back with the most important information anyone could ever read: the Law and the Gospel. I reach into my handy, dandy box o' tracts and pull out up to three to send away. Someone on the receiving end will open the envelope and I pray will be curious enough to read one. The money tracts, especially the Living Waters' "Giant Money" tracts, are probably the most eye catching. I can only wonder what my mailman thinks as he pulls a new envelope from my box almost every day.

I pray this might give you another idea as to how to get the Gospel out into the world. May God be glorified as we seek to reach the lost in His name...no matter where they are.

Thanks for stopping by!

A slave of the Savior,

Pastor Adam

New blog: A Gospel driven Family

2010-12-31T10:54:00.011-05:00

The Lord has really been convicting and directing me lately to put more emphasis on the role of family in the areas of Christian life. I have taken my children with me before on evangelism outreaches (Project Ezra, Open-air preaching, tracting, etc.) and we have been fairly regular on having family Bible study during the week. But the documentary "Divided" and a few other books I am reading and have read have really driven the point home for me.

The movie "Divided" has left a lasting impression on me that I am still working through. I will be sharing more about this in the first few blogs. Included in that blog will be suggestions for family studies as well as helpful hints in developing family worship times throughout the week. You will see a good deal of emphasis on the inclusion of family in evangelism and outreaches throughout the blog with some encounters my family and I have in our personal witnessing. I will recommend some valuable resources and give reviews of some of them.

I am very excited about getting this blog started and hope you will follow along with me on this journey. You can find and follow along with the new blog by visiting: http://www.gospeldrivenfamily.blogspot.com/

Thank you again for your prayers, comments, and encouragement. May God be glorified in all we do.

Slave of the Savior,
Pastor Adam

"Transformational Church" book review

2010-12-27T08:59:00.003-05:00

In the hopes of discovering the reasons for the decline of churches in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) a research team from Lifeway set out to interview several churches from varying denominational backgrounds that had, in their opinion, experienced some kind of growth contrary to the current downward trend. The numbers were crunched and the research concluded as of March 29, 2010. The result was a wealth of data and the encapsulation of such in the book “Transformational Church”.

This book is co-authored by Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer. Ed is the President of Lifeway Research and has co-authored and authored many previous books such as “Comeback Churches”, “Viral Churches”, and “Planting Missional Churches”. Thom is the President and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources and is the co-author and author of books such as “Breakout Churches”, “Simple Church”, and “Breaking the Missional Code”.

The book in review is a total of 239 pages with the last 7 pages detailing the elements of how they accumalted the research data and the criteria for interviewing churches, Pastors, and church members. These churches were listed throughout the book as Transformational Churches or TC’s.

Before even knowing the book existed, my Senior Pastor introduced our church to the DVD discussion guide which presents the elements of the book in a table talk fashion. The DVD itself is designed to be used among the leaders of the church but our church reviewed it together over several Sunday evenings. I had already taken some notes on the DVD but decided to base my review from the book once I had it in my hands.

Before starting let me note what I believe should be the biblical placement of any “research”. First and foremost, the Bible is THE authoritative source. Nothing else comes first as it reveals to us the mind of God and that which He has intended for us to have. Any source that follows is subjective to the Bible and should never be held anywhere close to level of reliability as God’s holy, infallible, inerrant, inspired Word. All things are viewed through the lens of the Bible.

Secondary is the placement of tradition. Tradition can, and often does, become a dangerous territory since some use it on the same authoritative level as the Word. The Roman Catholic religion is notorious for this; which is one of the many reasons that Catholicism is not Christian. Tradition has a subjective place in how we interact in our church settings. Some of these elements are present in our churches today without most of us even realizing it.

Tertiary in this listing is that of research. Research can help us gauge the temperature of our congregations to better understand on a more distinct level what we might be missing. Research can also help in understanding the secular, lost world around us. This is no way means that we are to cater how we evangelize, present the Word, or follow the commands of Christ in relation to how the world “feels” about a particular area. Research is helpful but in no way authoritative nor should it affect the doctrinal elements of Christianity and how we present salvation in Christ.

The book was chocked full of good information and it is evident that much work went into their research. However, even among the good elements I found several areas that were either contradictory or overtly pragmatic to the point that they should not have been included in this material. Some included quotes from Pastors of the churches surveyed that were coming close to unloving due to the lack of emphasis on presenting the Gospel. What I will attempt to do in the remainder of this review is highlight some of the good, the bad, and the contradictory elements to give you a general overview of the material.

The first thing that impressed be about this book was found on page 3. “We, the body of Christ, are God’s chosen method to deliver the message of transformation to our neighbors both in the local community and around the world. Delivering this message is our mission” (emphasis added). Understanding that “transformation” means the Gospel I immediately thought “HOMERUN”. It seemed the book had gotten off to a great start by highlighting the primacy of presenting the Gospel to the world vice just “doing church”. Such was continued through the first two and a half chapters. But on page 36 I read “When people arrived for worship, they knew something great was going to happen”. This was in reference to the worship services as the TC’s they had interviewed and brought my reading to a halt in order to ponder the quote.

While this may at first not seem like much of an issue, the problem is that it creates a misunderstanding of the purpose of worship. This is not a recent trend but has become the central fallacy in worship for many over the past few decades. That is that worship must produce a “charge” or sense of rejuvenation in those who attend and/or participate. Many come to church as a recharge for the week and preparation for the week ahead. They do not understand that worship is something you do in adoration to God not something God does in appreciation of you. Later in the book the authors did highlight the importance of remembering that worship is not about “you” but this was in stark contrast to the statement on page 36. More will be commented on their research in the area of worship later.

On page 46 I read “...a genuine missional impulse is a sending rather than an attritional one” which was a quote from another author. The statement was directly targeted atto debunk the idea of evangelism being nothing more than a passing invite to one’s local church. Again, another important nugget of information they voiced, or at least another author they quoted voiced. But just above this quote was a story of a TC that I found troubling and honestly offensive.

In this TC, the Pastor noticed that his congregation was of a certain skin color and their immediate neighborhood was not reflective of what was in the church. He believed those in his church should reflect what he considered to be the diversity of those outside the church.

First, let us take note that “race” is a Westernized term which many have used to segregate others and themselves based solely on appearance. It developed from Darwinian evolution and should be completely thrown out of our vocabulary. Unfortunately what most fail to realize is that people of similar appearance can have totally different cultural backgrounds. The Pastor then attempted to “level” the diversity in his church presupposing that other people didn’t attend because no one of their own appearance was an active part of that church. So why is that offensive? First, it ignores that fact that some people prefer to congregate with other believers of like background, not color. Second, it ignores the sovereignty of God and supposes that if the church is not diverse in skin color, culture, or other categorical areas then they must forcibly make themselves that way. Trying to force one’s idea of diversity is just as bad as trying to segregate a gathering. Reflection was a theme I found a few times in the book. They believed that every church should directly reflect the culture outside its doors.

Several other times in the book it is noted that missions, or evangelism, is about going outside the church walls to the lost and dying world that surrounds us. “Inviting people to church and cleaning up the church are noble endeavors, but that’s not what being missional is all about” (p. 67). And elsewhere concerning the focus of the churches leadership it is said they “…understand(s) that the church exists for the mission of God, and God gives leaders to help churches focus on the mission” (p. 75). Yet examples from TC’s showed their inconsistency in this line of thought.

Page 109 details the way a TC tries to cater to the desires of visitors rather than being biblically minded. “Early in the planting process they offered a Sunday lunch opportunity at a local restaurant. Discount coupons were offered as regular attendees invited new people to lunch. Each table at the restaurant had someone from Watershed (Church) to engage the new informally in conversations and to help connect them to next steps in the church”. Then on page 111 “Cincinnati Vineyard paid people who were not Christians to experience Sunday morning worship and answer a few important questions in writing” (emphasis added). Sandwiched in between these two pages the authors say “…the cross of Jesus Christ and spiritual things will be uncomfortable to some people who are far from God no matter what we do”. Aside from the fact that Scripture says that Christ is a “Rock-of-offense” (Romans 9:33) and not just Someone who makes unbelievers uncomfortable, there is a great inconsistency.

They say one thing, but the churches they have dubbed as TC are acting contrary to both biblical principles and the majority of the writing of the authors. It would seem that they are more bent on presenting the research and “successes” of the TC’s than anything else.

As I moved further in the book they introduced elements from these TC’s that were notably important. Prayer was a theme that seemed rather prevalent. This is an often overlooked area in our assemblies today. I struggle myself with the discipline of prayer and see the need for more emphasis from the pulpit for congregational prayer as well as individual. Some TC’s gave varying examples of how they integrated the importance of prayer. Some held prayer meetings before each Sunday morning service, others throughout the week. Some used prayer walking, which entails simply walking through their communities praying over certain areas as they came upon them. This is a relatively new idea and is still debated among some. I personally fall in the category of believing that it is not necessary to be physically within viewing distance of something or someone to pray for them effectively. What I fear is that prayer walking can become a way for some churches to advertise themselves as they hope the community will see them during their trek. It could then be more about being seen that being obedient.

Space was dedicated to detail more of the worship mindset they had already spoken of. Several good points were again brought out. “Blended worship provides equal opportunity to offend everybody” and “Worship should be what unifies the body of Christ” (p. 164). But this again seemed in contrast to some of what they had said, as I have already noted. Further in the book they did not differentiate between the worship service and Sunday School/Bible study. Two particular pages made this very mistake.

On page 188 I read “…church sanctuaries are designed the same way…seats on an ascending upward floor so that everyone feels close to the action…has an unintentional side effect…implies that the action is on the platform, and the people in the seats are there to cheer and enjoy the game”. If this is speaking of worship, they presuppose more than they realize. In Nehemiah 8:4, Ezra read aloud from the Law as he stood atop a wooden construct with the chief priests. Elevation in reading the Word of God is not simply a construct of tradition or pragmatism but of biblical principle. Page 189 digs further into the pit of misconception: “People need to move from sitting in rows to sitting in circles. Sitting in rows you are watching someone else using their gifts”. If this means the worship service then this negates all others who may be involved in worship such as the choir, worship team, ushers, Deacons, greeters, etc. Even among Bible studies and Sunday Schools there are varying differences but they each require involvement that is different from the congregational worship service. The worship service is not about disengaging oneself and simple observance but about joining other believers in corporately praising God. This happens through praying, singing, tithing, and even intent listening to the preaching of the Word.

Hitting again on the point of evangelism, the books speaks of the element of engaging the lost. “TC’s place an emphasis on social ministry as far as it serves the purpose of sharing the Gospel” and “Although they want their local church to grow in attendance they understand that the mission is greater” (p. 203). “Engaging the lost, winning the lost, and maturing believers to repeat the process was the pervasive mission in the TC’s…” (p. 207). But as they noted false ideas of evangelism, “…Christians in North America had the luxury of depending on attractive churches and programs to be their proxy evangelist to our culture” (p. 206), they did nothing to denounce or rebuke such.

With its great points and emphasis on the importance of evangelism, it still missed an important principle. With its highlighting of congregational worship, the authors were still unwilling to draw a line between seeker-sensitive and the true purpose of worship. With an underlining of prayer, pragmatism was still more prevalent than they were willing to admit.

There are unbiblical methods of evangelism that utilize man-centered principles rather that God-ordained ones. Seeker-sensitivity disregards the fact that Scripture reveals there is only one Seeker to whom we are to remain sensitive (Luke 19:10). Prayer is vital to a healthy Christian walk and a health church but should never be supplanted by developing methods based solely on the outcome we desire. What the authors sought to do by interviewing these churches was a noble task but in my opinion fell flat on its face. The research did provide some vital insight into the priorities and principles of different churches but the direct quotes from some of them revealed that although they answered questions one way their methods revealed where their real desires were.

Each of these TC’s boasted in engaging their local communities and most were adamant in doing so with the Gospel, yet nothing at all was said of their evangelistic principles. In fact, it was noted that most of them did not believe in regular evangelism training. They instead relied upon the people sharing the Gospel in their own ways. What are the repercussions of doing this? First, without going to the Bible to find God’s principles of seeking the lost, churches can and will develop numerous unbiblical versions of the Gospel resulting in false conversions and disillusioned parishioners. The idea of “you do it your way and I’ll do it mine” has been the approach many denominations have taken to evangelism for some time. In doing so success has always been measured by number of supposed conversions, even though the numbers themselves never pan out after many professing converts are found missing from local congregations.

While the authors were apparently slighted towards those who have been critical of the local church they failed to ask if any of their critiques were valid. Instead they simply sought to find pragmatic elements from these TC’s rather than ask if the principles they utilized were biblical. With so much within the pages that were meaty and applicable I simply found too many contradictions. It seemed as though every time they came close to hitting the proverbial nail on the head they either tapped too lightly or missed it all together. I can only recommend this book to those who are seeking to find the direction of the latest trends and the operating elements of differing churches. What good I found in this book was unfortunately overshadowed by the actual practices of the TC’s they lifted up.

If we start with the Bible as our foundation, while we may disagree in method, we cannot debate in biblical principle. What we find in the early church is a body of believers seeking to minister to one another, employing their spiritual gifts, worshipping daily and congregationally, reaching the lost the way Jesus did, and glorifying God in it all. While I do believe learning from other churches can be helpful, we must return to the Bible and not think that the old ways of church are irrelevant simply because we think we know better. Transformation comes by the hand of God not by the methods of man.

I'm back on Facebook...but with a few stipulations

2010-12-15T10:01:00.002-05:00

About a month ago I decided I had enough with Facebook. You can read my reasons in a previous blog. In summary, I was just tired of the gossip going around from misunderstanding postings and prayer requests. Rather than actually praying for general requests I posted, others used this to begin spreading uninformed gossip concerning me, my family, and my ministry. I closed my account and was determined to just use Twitter to keep up with people.

What I failed to realize at that time was how useful Facebook had been to network with other believers in sharing the Gospel. Other believers who had a passion for seeking the lost and biblically sharing Christ were a great sounding board and accountability partner.

Facebook proved to be a great location to keep up to date with outreaches others were planning as well. While unable to attend each of them I was at least aware of the options to team up with others.

I decided to return to Facebook but with a few stipulations and personal limitations. Here are just a few:

1) Limit my “friends” to other believers whom I either already know or have communicated with before.
2) Remove “friends” who have either caused or contributed to past gossip.
3) Not engage in useless, divisive banter. If anyone desires to discuss tertiary doctrinal issues they may do so with me through email.
4) Immediately remove myself from any “Group” that can hinder the presentation of the Gospel.

With these and a few other guidelines I am happy to be back on Facebook. I have decreased my “Friends” list by almost half and will entertain future requests depending on the persons profile and how they might answer a few questions I have.

I had also previously deleted the “Intrepid Evangelist” group prior to closing my account. I will be recreating this group in the near future but all who join it will be required to review the "Group Agreement" to ensure it is not used in an unbiblical and/or divisive manner.

Thank you to those who kept up with me during this short hiatus. May God be glorified in our service to Him.

A slave of the Savior,
Pastor Adam

Encouragement comes when you least expect it

2010-12-05T07:40:00.005-05:00

Continuing along with our outreach I spoke of in the previous blog we moved the preaching down a few blocks as we saw the crowds gathering elsewhere. With the help of Steven Long and my family we moved our equipment and starting preaching again. This time I used some Christmas trivia, courtesy of Anna "Banana" Jackson, to draw a crowd. But before I stepped up my oldest son Elijah wanted to read some of the story of Jesus' birth from Mathew 1. Here is the video:

After our "high-five" I stepped up and started in with the trivia. I was able to gather a few people and one lady was able to win a copy of "101 of the dumbest things people have done". It has a clear Gospel presentation in it as well as some very funny stories. The crowds were waiting across the street for a hayride in the tractor that would take them around a few city blocks. Several were listening but no one else was willing to step up for trivia.

I saw Steven talking to a couple off to my left as I continued. The lady raised her hand and said she would like to try some of the trivia and brought her husband along. Just as I was about to start with the first question she whispered, "I've been through Ray Comfort's class". That meant several things:

1) She was familiar with the Law and Gospel principles of evangelism.

2) She was a professing believer.

3) She was there to help :^)

For the next few minutes she role-played for me trying to help grab the attention of others. I was able to preach the Law and the Gospel to those gathered with her help. When I finished I stepped down to talk with them.

(I will not include there names since I did not get a chance to ask their permission to do so. But for the sake of writing I will call them "John" and "Jane".)

Jane asked if I had attended the Ambassadors' Academy in LA. After telling her that I had and was one of their team leaders for 2011 John told me they were members of Steve Sanchez's church and he was their Pastor. They said they were one of the first to go through Steve's evangelism training class.

Steve Sanchez is one of the Pastors of Hope Chapel of Hermosa Beach, CA. I have personally met Steve only once, back in April 2009 at Ambassadors Academy. He has many YouTube videos encouraging fellow believers to share their faith and giving them helpful tips to do so.

Now, let me help you understand why meeting John and Jane was incredibly important and encouraging. Let me first fill you in on events surrounding my ministry.

I had recently left the social networking group known as Facebook due to some people using several of my posts, some simply requesting for sincere prayer, to engage in the destructive sin of gossip. The gossip had been causing much heartbreak and had become an incredible discouragement to me. It had been a rough couple of weeks prior to this outreach. I had honestly been a little down. Now, let me add some of the ingredients of John and Jane to the mix.

John and Jane lived on the other side of the country and were only on the east coast for a few months. They had a sailboat they were sailing from Boston to Florida through the inter-coastal waterway system (ICW). The ICW is a man-made channel system that connects rivers and sounds up and down the east coast to allow smaller vessels to travel from some of the furthest points north to the furthest points south in the U.S. without ever having to battle the open-ocean. The ICW connects to the Pasquotank River and many of the boaters stop and moor up without cost in our town for a few days. John and Jane had just pulled into town that day. They had originally thought about just anchoring out but ended up tying up instead.

They had no idea about the lighting downtown and only saw the crowds as they were walking around nearby. As they came closer they heard my preaching and were encouraged to know that someone was biblically sharing the Gospel even in this small town. It was then that they decided to get a closer look.

Add these things together: my discouragement, their unscheduled stop, all of us being trained in the biblical principles of evangelism, and knowing many of the same people who live on the other side of the country. For all of these things to come together on that night brought me to a place of repentance soon their after. Why? Because I had realized that I had let my flesh get the best of me by becoming doubtful of God's sovereignty and providence.

I truly believe the Lord brought John and Jane to me that night to both teach me an important lesson about Himself and myself. After a short time of fellowship I gave them my email and a supply of tracts. I can honestly say it was one of the most encouraging outreaches I had participated in. When I set out that night I prayed I could minister to someone but was unaware that I myself was going to be ministered to.

Thanks for stopping by.

Humbly enslaved to the Savior,

Pastor Adam

Tears for the lost

2010-11-29T14:47:00.005-05:00

On the evening of November 26th, the downtown area of Elizabeth City, NC was to light up its Christmas lights for the season during a celebration starting at 6pm. I had found out about his only a few days prior to the event. Spectators were invited to gather in front of the courthouse to listen to carols by some local groups and a few words from the mayor before throwing the switch. There was to be a hayride around a few blocks afterwards and several of the downtown shops would remain open. Santa was available in one of the shops with free goodies provided by the downtown business owners. With few gatherings like this in our little town I could not pass up the opportunity to preach the Gospel to the crowd.

I was able to gather one of my faithful brothers, Steven Long, to meet me and my family about 15 minutes prior to. My wife gathered our kids about 30 feet away and sat on the lawn as we set up. The music started and, not wanting to compete with the sound, I waited until after the lighting. Steven held the "Are you ready?" cross which drew the attention of several people. One of them approached us and professed faith in Christ. Steven spent some time talking with him in depth and offered a small stack of our tracks for him to pass out. He graciously accepted and was on his way. We would later see him witnessing to others nearby.

After the lighting, the crowds quickly began to disperse. I jumped up and read from Luke 2. I preached about the greatest miracle, our greatest need, and the greatest gift. I offered Bibles and CD's with a sermon from John MacArthur to everyone. Some slowed their pace to listen but one lady stood only a few feet away leaning against a light post, listening intently. Here is the video:

After preaching I stepped down and she slowly approached me. Her name was Kathy and her eyes were filled with tears. She understood every word I preached and the presentation of the Law and Gospel was clear. She professed faith in Christ and had repented of her sins years before. She had just moved up from Florida and could not find her Bible. She asked if she could have one we were offering and the CD as well. She said she was crying because as I preached she saw how many people were just walking by and didn't seem to care. She believed that many of them were lost and wept because she knew they would go to Hell without Christ.

Her compassion was not lost on me. I have often wondered why other Christians seem to care little for the lost. I have worked hard to clear up any misconceptions about evangelism and teach the biblical principles of reaching the lost by using the Law. I know I am not the only one who is a part of what Todd Friel from Wretched Radio has coined "Club Frustration". But I am realizing more and more that it is not frustration that I feel but disappointment. Sometimes that disappointment can become overwhelming if we let it. That is why fellow believers like Kathy are such a great encouragement to me. Knowing that the tears she shed were for the lost souls around her reminds me not to cry out as Elijah did in 1 Kings 19 believing that we are the only ones who care for the lost.

Why should I dare esteem myself enough that I think I am always faithful? I am not! I fail to be as obedient as I know I should. I am careful not to admonish others too quickly because of my own failures. I realize that my frustration should be turned inward first.

I truly believe there are more believers who are burdened for the lost and do not know what to do about such. Their hearts break at the thought of even one lost soul dying their sin. They are looking for someone to teach them how to biblically share their faith and then join them in the fields to plant those seeds. They may be fewer than we wish, but they are out there.

I needed this encouragement more than I can express in any blog. But that was not the end of what the Lord would do that evening. Check out the next blog to see how God brought two people from the other side of the country to keep me pressing forward.

Thanks for stopping by.

Soli Deo gloria,
Pastor Adam

Why I left Facebook

2010-11-22T13:52:00.003-05:00

Let me preface the following blog with the following statement:

What you are about to read is not directed toward any individual or group of people. I understand that Facebook has and continues to be an incredible outlet for interacting with fellow believers as well as reaching the lost with the Gospel. The conclusions you come to concerning Facebook should be based on your convictions and not on what one person says in favor of or against such.

For a while now I have been questioning my role on Facebook (FB). Several fellow brothers and sisters have in the past taken a hiatus from FB and some have even limited their use and access to it for various reasons. I first enjoyed my access to FB and was often excited to reconnect with people I had known decades before. As my number of friends grew I found myself spending more time on FB trying to keep up with some of their status updates.

I soon decided to integrate my street ministry, The Intrepid Evangelist, into FB and found it as great way to coordinate outreaches and exchange ideas with others. I was able to attach this blog to FB as well and found my number of visitors growing. All seemed to be going well. But as I accepted more friend requests I began to encounter more and more problems. While I could produce an extensive blog listing every aspect of the reasons while I have come to this decision, doing so would not serve the purpose for which I am writing this blog.

The first came in the form of unhealthy and unbiblical discussions among believers. Of course, I use the word “discussion” lightly. They mostly centered on the Calvinism/Arminianism issue at first. Before you ask, I toss my hat in the Calvinist/Monogeristic/Reformed camp. However, I will not divide with anyone simply because of this. I have now joined the ranks of those who call themselves simply "Biblicists". Some of the discussions were handled very well but others were becoming outright spiteful. Among these discussions were others pushing certain End Times views and labeling the opposing proponents as heretics if they believed in a Pre-Tribulation or any other view contrary to their own.

For a while I was able to ignore these discussions and engaged only when necessary. But the next wave of issues was just beyond the horizon. This time it came in the form of the worst and most destructive sin prevalent today: GOSSIP.

You may have read in previous blogs that my family and I moved from Juneau, AK to Elizabeth City, NC this past summer. We were excited to return to our hometown and made it readily known on FB. What we came to discover was that this has caused a slew of discussion mostly centered around my street ministry and what I would be doing in the ministry once we arrived. Such gossip was later manifested as I was asked to meet with a couple who had “heard” that I was standing on corners yelling at people in passing cars with hateful signs in Westboro Baptist fashion. (If you are unfamiliar with Westboro Baptist people, they are the cult that protests at soldiers’ funerals. They are neither a church nor Baptist.)

After only a few moments with the couple I realized the opinions they have formed came from a spreading gossip rather than facts. They had never viewed any of my YouTube videos, audios, or read my blog or website. They had instead found it more convenient to accept that indictments of others against me rather than view the evidence for themselves. What I later realized was that they had intended on giving me a good lashing that evening. I assured them they misunderstood the ministry and left them with my card which would direct them to the videos and audio. While this settled one issue the gossip took hold in another area: prayer requests.

I posted requests on FB for prayer for the ministry and upcoming decisions during that time. This did result in many people praying for us and one close brother in Christ calling me up to talk in detail and share words of encouragement. But the gossip groups continued to the point that I decided to remove some “friends” who were instigators of such. However, this action again fueled the fire. You may at this point wonder why I just didn’t delete all of those friends. The reasons was that I had found that even in deleting some of them, they were still able to find out my posts through others that remained on my list. It became more than I was willing to deal with. I found myself beginning to carefully choose my words with each post more than I needed to.

While there are a few preemptive reasons for leaving FB, but the gossip was more than enough to tip the scales.

The decision was not made lightly. In stepping away from that social network I will have to work a little harder to network with fellow Christians and street ministries. But it has also afforded me the opportunity to be more direct and personal with my contacts. I will remain an active on Twitter and would like to encourage each of you reading this blog to join my website for free to be a part of the mailing list.

There are many changes coming in the future. Some of which I cannot discuss at this time but they are all for the best. I pray that as my family and I move forward in establishing this ministry that you will continue to join us in prayer.

For His glory,
Pastor Adam

Sermon at the base chapel: The King's ambassadors

2010-10-18T00:34:00.003-04:00

This past Sunday I was blessed to preach at the base chapel on the Coast Guard Training Center in Petaluma, CA. I am here for the Coast Guard Chief’s Academy and had attended the past two Wednesday night studies and the previous Sunday morning service. I offered my preaching services to one of the Chaplains when I heard he would be out of town for a few Sundays. He said the other base Chaplain had scheduled someone to fill the pulpit in his absence but he wanted to hear me preach so he asked if I would preach the following Sunday while he was still here. I graciously accepted.

For a week I had been reading through 2 Peter and thought I would find a passage and preach from there. However, as sometimes happens, I found another passage that I felt burdened to preach instead. I had preached on being an ambassador for Christ from Ephesians 6 but never from 2 Corinthians 5.

So I began diving deep into the text and chose verse 11-21. This was an expansive passage but it was necessary to take it in its entirety so as to understand fully what it means to be an ambassador. While I do not have an audio from the sermon, I have transcribed below the basics of what I preached including the outline:

The King’s ambassadors

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Chapter 8 tells us that Paul is writing this from Macedonia and chapter 9 informs that he sent it to Corinth by way of his beloved brother Titus. Being the second epistle to the church in Corinth, Paul’s writing takes a different tone. The first letter is written with great admonition. Many in the church had set about abusing the gifts which God had graciously given then. Included in this a are sins which had come to Paul’s attention: incest, the lack of loving church discipline, lack of humility and an increase in outward pious boasting.

A year or so had passed between the first epistle. Paul still desired to come to Corinth but, by God’s sovereignty, has yet to do so. The admonition previously given had, for the most part, been heeded with repentance. Paul expresses his gratitude that his previous letter had been received and his correction had been taken accordingly. He reveals his concern for their welfare showing compassion in his desire is not to tear down but to build them up. But there were a few sowing seeds of doubt within the gathering at Corinth. They had done so by questioning the resurrection and Paul’s qualification. Their intent was to primarily denounce the authority of God, since Paul was chosen as not only an Apostle but as one whom God would use to pen down His holy Word.

By the time we come to the 5th chapter Paul has set about defending the resurrection and the assurance that while Christ is not on earth in the flesh, His kingdom and return is assured. Because of this assurance Paul speaks in this chapter of his qualifications and the message which he declares.

But this passage is not directed in mere defense of Paul, as he makes that clear. No, our passage this morning speaks of the qualification of all who are born-again in Christ and their role as the King’s ambassadors. But before we speak of what an ambassador is, let us first look to the qualification of such.

I. The qualification (11-19)

I am going to take you through 6 qualifications of being an ambassador for the Lord. We may move a little quickly though these but I am more than willing to spend some time with you afterwards if you need to write them down in greater detail.

A. Humility (11)

1. “Knowing the terror of the Lord”

Few think of fear as a good thing. Many teach we are to rid ourselves of fear. They say to attack our fears head-on and conquer them. This is in part true. Our irrational fears should be done away with. But fear is not in and of itself a bad thing.

Fear keeps some of us from risking our lives in unnecessary ways. Take me for example, I don’t have a fear of falling but I do have a fear of what happens when my falling is stopped by an immovable object such as the ground. Is that an irrational fear? No. Such a fear can prevent people from jumping from ridiculous heights without some sort of safety measure in place.

The fear of God for the believer is vastly different from the fear the lost should have of Him. Our fear comes not from the impending wrath but from our understanding of God’s greatness which leads thus to humility. John Bunyan, the author of “Pilgrim’s Progress” (which is the second most popular book next to God’s Word), said this:

“…let God’s distinguishing love to you be a motive to you to fear Him greatly. He has put His fear in your heart…Oh what an obligation should this though lay upon your heart to greatly fear the Lord! Remember also that this fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel, given only to favorites, and to those who are greatly beloved”.

B. Desire to tell others about Christ

1. “Persuade men”

This comes not from fear of retribution from the humility and joy ever believer has. What greater message is there to declare than one which will affect your eternal destiny? John MacArthur was once asked during a flight what he did for a living; to which he replied “I tell people how they can have their sins forgiven”.

C. True faith and lack of hypocrisy (12-13)

1. “Those who boast in appearance and not in heart”

In verses 12 and 13 Paul not only corrects any possible misconceptions about his boasting but points out the fallacy of outward piety while inward corrupt and sinful.

a. Self-promoting

Some point more to themselves than Christ. They have heaped up around themselves people to emulate them.

i. Psalm 44:8

“In God we boast all the day long, and praise Your name forever. Selah.”

Paul later says of the only thing we may boast concerning ourselves.

ii. 2 Cor. 11:30

“If it is right to boast, I will boast of the things of my weakness.”

Weakness in this verse refers to trials, tribulations, and sufferings a believer faces because of their declaration of the Gospel and faithfulness to the Savior.

2. “If we are beside ourselves, it is for God, or if we are of sound mind, it is for you”

Paul notes that some will think he is boasting in himself but his intention is not to point to himself but to point to what God has done in and through him and that it might also be to the credit of the Lord’s Church as well.

In doing so, he shows that his reference to his own faithfulness is not hypocritical piety but a testimony of what the Lord is doing in him for God’s glory and the benefit of His Church.

3. Captive to Christ (14a)

a. “Love of Christ compels us”

The Greek language has three words for loves: aeros is a love that takes; phileo is a love that gives and takes; agape used here; a love that gives and expects nothing in return. The love of Christ is one that gives of the utmost, gives of the highest, greatest because it is a love you cannot return in full. A believer cannot love Christ as much as Christ loves them.

In the KJV the word “compel” is rendered as “constrain”; in the ESV it is “control”

I believe the KJV more accurately translates it in the context here. The word can be used to refer to someone who is bound or tied to something or someone. In a sense, a prisoner. This is not the first time Paul uses this type of reference in regard to his obedience to Christ.

Rom. 1:1; Gal. 1:10; Titus 1:1…each time using the word doulos which means bond-servant...in service to someone, bound to them

Because of God’s incredible grace in saving Paul, he is bound to his Savior not confined in disgruntled servitude in loving obedience to the One who rescued Him from the ravages of sin and the wrath he was due.

E. Dead to self, living for Christ (14b-15)

1. “Once died for all, then all died…live no longer for themselves”

All who are born-again in Christ have died not only to sin, but to self. Before Christ, we were the center of our universe. We were our own god. While some may say they sacrifice much for their family or for others, the fact is that they enjoy doing so. They like the way it makes them feel. They feel they are doing what they should. It gives them a great sense of self-worth.

Did you catch that? Such humility from the unregenerate is false humility because it’s still about “ME”.

Believers do not do things that make themselves feel good and certainly not to attain or remain in God’s favor. But we do so out of love for God; because He so graciously saved us.

a. Galatians 2:20a

“I have been crucified with Christ, and I live; yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me.”

F. You are a new creature (16-19a)

1. "We regard no one according to the flesh” (16)

Although others may judge outward piety as servitude to Christ, Paul regards the inward reality of salvation.

2. "…new creature…old things have passed away…all things have become new” (17)

The reality of the inward working of salvation springs forth from the heart of flesh and the new creation God has wrought in the regenerated sinner

All false promotions of self-excellence are reprimanded and done away with in this statement.

3. “all things are of God” (18)

That God is the One who created the new creature, He is the One who has done away with the old things (sin debt), He is the One who has created His child new. Not a working of man to attempt attainment of righteousness, but only by the graciously work of the Lord.

4. “who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ”

Here we are given one of the most overlooked doctrines of grace. The fact that Paul speaks of reconciliation and then defines it for us in verse 19 shows its importance in evangelism.

5. “reconciliation” (19)

Have been brought into the God’s favor by the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb and the grace of God.

a. Colossians 1:21

“And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled”

We were far removed by God from God because of sin but in Christ, we were again brought nearer through His blood

How is it that we can be brought into favor with God if, as Scripture says, we are sinful and rebellious against Him? First, because Jesus is not merely a man; he is God . “God in Christ”

Here we are told that the God is not “imputing their trespasses to them”. This means that those who repent and trust in Christ are not counted as sinful. Their sin is not counted against them, the judgment of such no longer rests on them.

Instead, God has imputed Christ’s righteousness to us. This is the only means by which we are able to come into the presence of the Father.

God looks at the redeemed and does not see a sinner awaiting the just wrath he or she is due. He sees the righteousness, the perfection of His Son.

Him whom we have sinned so greatly against is the only One able to complete the work of reconciliation.

G. Because God has qualified you, you are now to go (19b)

1. “committed us to the word of reconciliation”

At the beginning of this section of the sermon I said these are the qualifications of an ambassador. You likely thought that these are the qualifications you must strive to meet. But they aren’t. They are what God has done in His children and how He has qualified them to be His chosen ambassadors. Thus comes the application of your reconciliation.

William Tyndale rendered this part of the verse that Christ “…hath committed unto us the preaching of the atonement.”

II. The glorious declaration (20a)

A. What is an ambassador

More than just messengers or representatives.

During Roman rule provinces of Rome’s territory were classified as either senatorial or imperial. Senatorial were those peaceful and friendly to Rome; willingly submitting to their rule without questions.

Imperial were those who were not peaceful toward Rome. They did not want to submit to Rome’s authority and were regularly rebellious. To these provinces, Rome would send a representative, an ambassador, to govern and maintain peace.

They carried with them the declarations from Rome and the Roman Emperor to declare to these imperialists. With such, they were given the full authority of the emperor as well. They were often dressed in garments of significant standing and carried some sort of signet of the King showing they were truly his representatives.

1. God is sending out His ambassadors

They are His children going forth into a world rebellious of God’ss rule. But we are not to govern, we are to be His representatives and bearers of the Good News of His glorious grace.

2. God has clothes us with the righteousness of Christ

a. Psalm 132:9

“Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and Your saints shout for joy.”

b. Revelation 3:5

“The one who overcomes, this one will be clothed in white clothing. And I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

B. The authority to go

1. "as though God were pleading through us”

The authority and ambassador has is not inherently their own. When a king send out his representative he gives that person his own authority. Believers who faithfully proclaim the truth of God’s Word and Christ as the only way of salvation do so not of their own words but proclaim that which God has given them.

Notice that it is as though God is “pleading”. “we implore you”. God is calling people unto salvation. He is beseeching them. God is the seeker of lost souls. There are not sinful seekers. Those who seek God do so because God has first sought them out and drawn them unto Himself.

In the end of verse 20 Paul says “we implore you” and summarizes the message we are to proclaim. He is not calling the Corinthians to reconciliation, because they have been granted such by Christ already. Rather, he is giving an example of the message they and all believers are to carry. Notice certain elements that are missing in this beautiful message from the King.

III. Delivering the King’s message (20b-21)

A. Reconciliation (20b)

As we have already looked to the explanation of reconciliation we now come to understand how reconciliation is applied.

1. It is to be received, not earned

In the Greek, the word for reconciled is in the passive tense. This means that it is a receiving on the behalf of the recipient not to be obtained by the receiver. That is, God has accomplished the work of reconciliation and because of such it is to be received by repentant sinner.

B. Imputation (21)

What we have in verse 21 is one of the most precious and humbling statements in Scripture.

1. “He made”

Christ’s death was purposed, plan, and perfected according to God’s sovereign will.

a. Galatians 1:3-4

“Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father,"

2. “Him who knew no sin”

This is a clear declaration of Christ’s sinlessness. If anyone believe that Christ sinned, they cannot be saved because the Jesus they believe in does not exist and could not have atoned for their sins. You see, this a declaration no other person in all of Creation could ever make. No one in all existence was, is, or ever will be except for Christ.

3. “to be sin for us”

Sin is not the verb in this phrase, meaning that He did not commit sin. Sin is in a noun form here. Thus He was treated as sin, and punished according to that which sin fully deserved.

4. "that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”

Being reconciled through Christ, the repentant sinner is now seen as perfect and holy before God.

Thus Paul’s explanation of the message which God’s ambassadors are to carry can be summarized in this way:

Because we are Christ’s representatives in this rebellious and sinful world it is as though God Himself is pleading with the lost through us as we say “Turn from your sin and receive the reconciliation to God not through your works or deeds but only by work of Christ on the cross. Because Christ was sinless yet He bore the penalty of your sin on Himself so that you might be seen and made perfect in the sight of God”.

Charlotte trip part 2: How much of a difference 18 inches make

2010-10-01T20:40:00.003-04:00

The morning of September 25th my family and I were up and ready to explore some of Charlotte before the Kids' Fest and Go Fish concert. After a yummy breakfast we met up with the Jeff and his family. We proceeded to the same street where Jeff and I open-air preached the night before. The streets was occupied with people wearing numbers which we later found out were a part of a scavenger hunt and run. Seemed like an interesting combination! We walked up and down the street for a few hours and stopped to grab some lunch.

Before we headed back I decided to do some preaching atop a marble slab on one of the street corners. Behind me was a small park area between two buildings. I was able to preach about a 15 minute message as a young man stopped to listen. He professed to be a Christian and agreed with everything he heard. He gave a sound testimony but was unsure how to share his faith. I gave him one of our tracts with my website address and asked him to send me an email so I could get some free material to him. I have not heard back from him yet but am hopeful that he will contact me. It was time for us to pack everything up.

Fast forward to the Go Fish concert. We were able to take the kids to meet the guys before the concert and get a few pictures. I had met them several months before at Wretched's "Psalm 119 conference" when I thanked them for their "Backstage with the Bible" VBS. As a side note: if you or your church is looking for Christ-centered, Bible teaching VBS check out this VBS and their new one being released around mid-October. They remembered talking to me and jokingly asked why I wasn't still in Alaska.

We later rushed into the church's sanctuary and found seats on the third row. The kids however, rushed to the front and found spots about 15 feet from the stage. The guys opened up with their "Snazzy" song and the audience erupted with excitement. They sang a few songs from their new album and gave, what I can honestly say without reservation, the most biblical Gospel presentation I have ever heard from a Christian concert. No alter call, no "sinner's pray, no coaxing, just using the Law to bring about the knowledge of sin and presenting the cross to reveal God's atoning work for the forgiveness of sin. Most Christian concerts have presented nothing close to what they did that evening. I can only pray other professing Christian singers would follow the biblical method of presenting salvation.

The kids had an absolute blast. At one point the guys came into the crowd during their "Superstar"song. Jamie made his way to our area and stepped up on my seat when I stood to take some video which you can watch below.

After herding the kids together we piled back into our van just in time to escape a torrential downpour of rain. I had planned to hit the streets one last time and the weather didn't look to be cooperating. Interestingly though, only about 5 miles up the road it was completely dry. When we arrived at the hotel the entire area looked like it had not even been touched by rain. We ordered dinner from the restaurant downstairs before I headed out one last time.

Jeff again met me in the parking garage and we headed back to the corner where I had preached earlier that day. Jeff took station atop the same marble slab as I setup the camera and hooked up the PA. Remember, this is the same location as earlier but this time something different happened. Rather than just explain it, check out the video I recorded.

Hmmm, same location but this time we were told it was private property. Was it? Well, we just gave the security guard the benefit of the doubt. Note though, that all we did was move about 18 inches. As you could see one and a half feet didn't make any difference other than taking our elevation away. What you could not see in the video is that in the park, which was supposedly the private property of the buildings behind them, were people who were apparently on private property but did not themselves reside in the buildings that "owned" such. Was the guard within his right to tell us to move? If it really was private property then the answer is a resounding yes. Could we have challenged him because he singled us out and not the others? Yes, but it would have done nothing to help the preaching of the Truth that evening. Just moving 18 inches satisfied his demands and did not hinder our continued preaching.

He continued watching us during our time there from the inside lobby of one of the buildings. I guess we just looked like a couple of trouble-makers. I closed us out preaching from Acts 17.

In all we had three opportunities to preach on the streets of Charlotte and some great encounters to share the Law and the Gospel with a few individuals. I pray the Lord was glorified in our service to Him. May He graciously grant repentance to someone who heard of His wonderful work of salvation that evening.

Thanks for stopping by!

Soli Deo gloria,

Pastor Adam

Charlotte trip part 1: home of the Panthers and Vision evangelism?

2010-09-30T08:09:00.004-04:00

On September 24th my wife and I packed our family up in our van and drove almost 6 hours south to Charlotte, NC. We had decided earlier in the week to take them to a Go Fish concert since we had been promising them for a year that we would do so as soon as they held a concert nearby. My brother-in-law, Jeff, and his wife had decided earlier that they were going and we would be meeting up with them that night. Along with our luggage I also packing my street preaching stool, some tracts, and some other open-preaching gear to take along.

We arrived almost an hour and a half late due to several traffic jams. I had initially told Jeff that I would not go out because it was so late and the kids still needed to eat. Jeff called me back about 15 minutes later and said they had walked to a nearby store to pick something up and the downtown area was bustling with people. So I changed my mind! After everyone ate I packed up everything and met Jeff in the parking garage to start walking. Jeff had attended the Ambassador's Academy and had been out with me a few times before but never outside of Elizabeth City.

We walked a few blocks from the hotel passing by the NASCAR museum, which would be a great place to open-air during the tourist season. We made our way to Tryon Street and as we turned the corner we encountered a...well let's just say this was my first time ever encountering a group like this during my street ministry.

The group was made up of about 10 youth and young adults. One of them seemed to have brought his little boy along as well. One of the gentlemen from the group asked what we were doing, as he looked at my preaching stool. I turned the question around and asked them the same. One of the older men from the group, maybe early twenties, stepped up and said they were "showing the love of God to people". When I asked how they were doing that he asked me if my body was in any kind of pain or if I was hurting in any way. When I said no and that I had just run 4.2 miles that morning he was taken aback and didn't know how to respond.

I gave them the "3 minutes to live" scenario to prompt them to share the Gospel with me in a short period of time. None of them knew how to and were somewhat offended that I would pose a question in that way. What happened next was one of the creepiest and saddening experiences I have ever had on the streets. I had been threatened by drunks, professing homosexuals, atheists, and the such but this took the cake.

A young girl, maybe around 17 or so, who was standing in the back of the group came right up to me and asked if I had a daughter with brown hair. I thought that maybe she had seen us at the hotel earlier so I said yes...even though my daughter has dirty blond hair. She then told me she had a vision of my daughter being a great person and accomplishing many great things. She said she could see that my daughter was talented and I should encourage that. I stopped her right there and told her what she was doing I had seen done before by pagans such as the psychic, not puritan, John Edwards and others. She was shocked that I would refer to her visions in such a way. What followed was an escalating discussion from them trying to defend her visions and their methods. What I came to realize was this was how they shared their "gospel". They told me they would go around seeking visions about people and using those visions to "evangelize" anyone they found on the streets.

As the discussion continued their "leader" who was a man in his late 20's came up to me. At first he seemed very level-headed and tried to convince me that they were doing the same thing we were; trying to reach the lost. He called himself an international evangelist and asked what I did. After telling him I was an ordained Pastor he seemed to take a few steps back. But he then began in his own vision asking me if I was a Youth Pastor. When I replied no he changed his vision and asked if I had a lot of youth on my church. When I answered no again, his vision changed one last time as he said he could see large amounts of youth pouring into our church. At this point I realized that all the apologetics I had given may have fell on deaf ears. I worked to try and excuse us but they insisted on praying for us. I made the mistake of allowing them to do so, something that will never happen again, and we parted.

Later that night as we were preaching they gathered into a group across the street from us. Some of them engaged a few people as they walked by but they seemed to be either praying or discussing something. By the time we were done with our preaching they had already left. We had one more strange encounter before leaving with someone who professed to be a Christian but believed there should be other books in the Bible and that the Qu'ran is just as much God's Word as the Bible. Our conversation with him was more a headache than disturbing. He setup strawmen left and right taking too much of our time.

My heart breaks over the fact that the young women and others in that group believed they could receive psychic visions from God about others. Some psychics are con-artists while others delve in demonic activity. I fear that some of them were part of the latter. I misplaced their leader's card but would love to find it and continue to share the Truth with him.

Next time: Charlotte trip part 2: How much of a difference 18 inches makes. Thanks for stopping by.

Until the whole world hears,

Pastor Adam

Stop Light Preaching: The Gospel in 90 seconds

2010-09-10T21:04:00.000-04:00

I got my first taste of stop light preaching this afternoon. Adam took me out and I had the opportunity to witness what this form of preaching was. Stop Light preaching is simply the method of getting the gospel to as many people as possible in the time it takes for a stop light to turn from red to green.

Now, you may be thinking, "What's a gospel presentation in 90 seconds gonna do?" But the point is not to preach a sermon. It is to give people who you may never see again a brief gospel presentation. And make no mistake; this presentation is not lacking in theological depth just because it is only 90 seconds long. All the basics of the gospel are covered: the Law and sin, judgment, Christ's Deity as the God-Man, His atoning work on the cross, the resurrection, and repentance and faith in Christ. It is short but covers what a person needs to hear. It is short, but God will use His Word to accomplish His will and bring in His elect. Watch a brief video below of Adam preaching and if you are in or around the Elizabeth City, NC area we would love to have you come and join us. Thank you, and God bless.

Full pond to an ankle deep stream

2010-09-05T23:30:00.004-04:00

I knew that moving back home to Elizabeth City, NC would be a big change for my street ministry. The culture is different, the weather is different, but most notably the "fishing" is a little different. By fishing, I do not mean that which involves a rod, reel, and lure. Of course though, that is vastly different here.

What I am referring to is evangelism, being one of the "fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). Do not misunderstand me, the lost exist in Juneau, Elizabeth City, and to the far reaches of the world. But the setting has definitely proven to be more of a challenge than I anticipated.

Back in November of last year, we came home for Thanksgiving and I had planned an outreach and asked other believers to join me. You can read the specifics of this outreach in previous blogs. Before this outreach I picked out Waterfront Park here in Elizabeth City as a great place for open-air preaching. My reason for doing so goes back to my unregenerated teen years.

Before Christ graciously saved me from the wrath of God, I found myself gathering every so often with other teens at Waterfront Park on Friday and Saturday nights. This was not a regular event for me but was definitely a ritual for others. Hundreds of teens would gather at the park in their vehicles and spend hours on end bouncing between there and the Sonic drive-in. Remembering this I figured the park was a no-brainer for outreach and planned accordingly.

Well, our November outreach proved my previous assumptions to not be true. Apparently it was no longer "cool" to hang out at the park with other teenagers. That night we found ourselves walking the streets to find where people were gathering. We open-air preached several times and were able to witness to a few people along the way. Later in the week I was able to open-air on two different occasions to those waiting in line to get into the downtown dinner theater. Unfortunately, that theater closed down a few months ago taking with it the only outside gathering of people downtown.

In Juneau, even during the non-tourist season, downtown was usually busy and particularly packed on Friday and Saturday nights with patrons frequenting the local bars. It was the equivalent of stepping up to a well stocked pond knowing that it was teeming with fish. Along with this almost always came opposition and hecklers. I love hecklers! They help to gather a crowd to hear the Law and the Gospel. During the tourist season you could hand out a hundred tracts in less than 10 minutes. Tourists moved in droves up and down the streets making any area on the sidewalk a great place to open-air preach. On one occasion I remember standing out in the pouring rain preaching to a large group of tourist who were huddled under a tent waiting for their tour buses. That was truly a captive audience.

Fast-forward to present day. I have been working on building up an evangelism team from my new church, Fellowship Baptist. During our few months here I have given my 4 hour Intrepid Evangelist training once and found those who attended to be excited about biblically sharing Christ. I have taken the entire team out once but have gone out several other times with Steven Long, a pastoral candidate from our church. The big difference is the task of actually finding people to witness to. Some nights there are 20-30 people at the park and other nights you would be hard pressed to find 5.

I admit that it is a bit more challenging, particularly when I want to take others who are new to evangelism. I have however decided to travel about an hour north to Virginia Beach where there are always a multitude of people. But these trips are much less frequent than our local endeavors.

Is it harder to gather a crowd to open-air here in a small town? Absolutely! I have however used local events as opportunities and was not disappointed with the recent 4th of July. But it can be discouraging if you forget why you are actually out there.

I remembered reading a few blog posts by a friend and fellow street preacher Matt Johnson called "The case for small town evangelism". Matt also lives in a small town and actively hits the streets to preach the Good News. His exhortation is a great reminder never to become focused on the numbers who worry about whether we can actually see someone listening to the preaching. He reminds us to be faithful to that which God has commanded of us. Such direction can be best summed up in the words of Tony Miano: "Preach to an audience of One". That One is none other than the risen Savior, Jesus Christ.

So while I may have come from a "full pond" where the fish were everywhere to an "ankle deep stream" where you have to hunt for the fish, the purpose is still the same: to glorify God by biblically presenting the Gospel to the lost and love the lost in doing so. I look at it as a challenge and another opportunity to grow in Christ.

As always, thank you for your prayers and for stopping by.

For Christ alone,

Pastor Adam

Correcting false assumption about open-air preaching

2010-07-15T10:36:00.010-04:00

I recently was asked to meet with a family from my new church who was concerned about my street ministry. I had heard before we moved back home that some were concerned about what we were doing but was unaware of some of the preconceived ideas they had.

Fellow open-air preachers, let's face it, there are many ideas about open-air preaching that exist solely because of hate-filled cults like Westboro Baptist who stand outside deceased soldiers funerals with unbiblical and unloving protest signs. Other ideas come from well-intentioned brothers who do not know the biblical principles of preaching in the open-air and go about doing so without Scriptural guidance or accountability to a local fellowship. But too many are quick to lump biblical open-air preaching into either of these categories without examining it for themselves.

Over the past year or so, I have posted several videos and some audio files of my ministry and others who have participated with me. There are three reasons for doing so. The first is for accountability. I wanted to ensure that my Senior Pastor as well as other brothers and sisters in Christ can see what we are doing and will hold us accountable if something is preached or done without Scriptural backing. The second reason is so the lost might tune in and see or hear the proclamation of the Law and the Gospel. The final reason is to show other believers what my ministry is doing.

For anyone to judge a ministry without knowing what it involves is akin to telling someone you don't agree with the color of their bathroom curtains when you have never even stepped foot into their home. When I encounter brothers and sisters like this I do not go in "guns abalzing'" but I pray the Lord will retain in me a humble heart knowing that their ideas of what I do may be contaminated with some of the outside factors I have mentioned. I want them to know the two reasons I preach on the streets: because I desire to glorify my God and Savior whom I love and because I love the lost and desire that the Lord grant them repentance of sin and salvation in Christ. I don't desire to cause contention but to correct misunderstandings.

Open-air preaching may seem taboo in today's culture, but I am not concerned with what the culture thinks of me. It wasn't readily accepted in the Old or New Testament either. I am willing to be mocked and ridiculed so that they might hear the Truth. Many, who have gone on before me and continue even today, have faced great tribulation and even death because of how much they love the Lord. The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to associate with many brothers and sisters who have poured out their hearts for the lost. I have seen their tears and heard their burdened voices as they plead with them turn from sin and come to Christ. I have listened to them exposit the Word and bring the Law to reveal sin before declaring the grace of Christ. I am unworthy to share a preaching stool with them. Each continues to encourage me to continue in this race in which the Lord has placed me (Hebrews 12:1).

My meeting with the couple about the ministry went well. In just a few minutes I was able to dispel the false ideas they had about biblical street preaching. But there are others out there who profess Christ, have heard biblical street preaching, and stand over the preacher in judgment condemning both them and the message which they proclaim. To hear the message and see the heartfelt desire of a street preacher to glorify God and yet denounce them is to stand in absolute opposition to the teachings of Scripture.

Most who do so invest themselves in the unloving and unfriendly "friendship evangelism" method. They would rather pretend to become someone's friend and wait for years to share the Gospel with them than actually see them get saved. They are more concerned with their own comfort and namesake than the eternal destiny of others. The most unloving thing you can say to someone who is not born-again is...nothing. In such a case, silence equates to hatred.

Ignorance of the biblical principles is something completely different. Ignorance can be corrected by opening the Word and expositing through it, praying that the Holy Spirit will illuminate His truth. But outright condemnation even when you know the intent of the preacher and the teachings of Scripture is always cause for concern.

Let us have a heart of humility towards those who need proper instructing in our street ministries. May we not simply lash out towards them but lovingly correct their false views, praying that they too will join us in the Great Commission. Please take the time to read Tony Miano's blog in which he rlovingly esponds to such a situation.

To those who stand in stark opposition, may we point to the Word as our authority and continue preaching undeterred. In all of it, may the Lord be glorified in all we do and may He alone be praised for saving the lost.

Until all the world hears,

Pastor Adam

4th of July outreach

2010-07-06T21:24:00.003-04:00

Last year in Juneau on the 4th of July I was blessed to have a small team read through 1 John with me to the crowd gathered for the local parade. As the parade passed we each read a chapter and I ended giving the Law and the Gospel. Some of the team was able to stay behind and we spent the afternoon witnessing downtown. I was told yesterday that the team was able to read through 1 John again this year but the heavy rains prevented them from staying downtown for 1-2-1. It was very encouraging to hear that the Lord’s work is continuing there.

New year, new location. Unfortunately, Elizabeth City does not have a parade but does have a few festivities at Waterfront Park for the three hours leading up to the fireworks. I talked with my fellow street preacher, Steve Long, and planned to find a good place to setup for some good open-air preaching. My wife and I packed the kids in the van and headed for the park. Steve and his family met us there as we picked out an open spot near everything and stared setting up. This was the first time I would get to try out my easel with the “Intelligence Test” flipcharts. I stepped up and offered to give away Ray Comfort’s “101 of the Dumbest Things people have done” if someone would attempt to answer a few questions. No takers! So I started being specific about who I needed to answer the questions. I asked for people wearing certain color clothing, those I saw walking by, and then they started responding. For about I was able to open-air and draw several groups of young people, engaging them with the Gospel each time. One young lady in particular turned out to be a recent “convert” to Islam, although she was clearly not dressed in Muslim garb leading me to believe she was more of Farrakhan’s cult. She said she was previously Christian, which is a biblical impossibility, and willingly stayed afterwards to talk to Steve. Steve has been ministering outside Muslim mosques and is well-equipped in apologetics.

There was a gentleman who appeared about 10 feet behind these groups and stood there for a while listening. After I finished with one group he approached and said he was a Youth Pastor and recognized our witnessing from Way of the Master. He was very encouraged to see other Christians sharing their faith and wanted to get his youth involved in what we were doing. I gave him my email address and invited him and the youth to the training the end of July.

Steve stepped up and we traded off reading through 1 John as he exposited a few verses in the end. I stepped away to see how well the PA was carrying and quickly realized that it was a good system for the close streets of downtown Juneau but not for an open park. We are now looking for something with a little more power and multidirectional.

Steve and his family departed as I thanked him for coming out with me again. As I started to take everything down two teens wanted to take the “Intelligence Test” and I was able to witness to them as well. When they walked away a gentleman who had been sitting on the grass with his family nearby came up. He professed to be a Christian and loved what we were doing. He was active duty Coast Guard and was living in the local area. He and his wife had been looking for a church for a while so I handed them my card and invited them to a house warming party my wife and I were having the following weekend.

My family had already taken station for the fireworks a few feet away so we sat and waited for the show. The kids loved it! They were definitely the best fireworks we had ever seen in Elizabeth City. A huge crowd had surrounded us staring wide-eyed into the sky. I couldn’t pass up one last opportunity to open-air. At the last burst of color followed by cheering from the crowd I stepped up on my stool and preached to the crowds as they started to depart. Some stayed behind and others were evidently disgusted. Either way, the Truth went forth.

It was a great night of glorifying God through the preaching of the Gospel. I pray that the Holy Spirit will grant repentance to someone if not all of those we witnessed to individually, those who heard it preached, and those who received tracts. Thank you again for your prayers for this ministry. May the Lord be glorified in all we do.

Preaching Christ and Him crucified,
Pastor Adam

Finally settling in

2010-07-05T22:10:00.003-04:00

The past month has been a very busy one for my family and me. A few weeks ago we arrived back in Elizabeth City, NC after moving from Juneau, AK. Our new home needed a little work. We spent about 5 days painting all but one room and watched as our new carpet and flooring was installed. Our previous tenants had left us with much to toss out. Even as I begin to type this we still have a fairly long list of things that still need to be done.

Our new church, Fellowship Baptist, was the church where I was ordained before leaving 4 years ago. Since arriving I have met with our Senior Pastor who is onboard with the street ministry and outreach. I am currently working on preparing a budget proposal and have scheduled the first Intrepid Evangelism Training for July 31st. Before even arriving, one brother from church was already onboard to hit the street for open-air and 1-2-1. Since we have been home the two of us have hit the streets twice and spent yesterday open-air’ing at Waterfront Park during the 4th of July festivities. (I’ll be doing a separate blog about this in the next few days).

There may be a few changes coming in the near future with the website. The ministry will also be “absorbed” into our new church as fully funded and internally supported outreach. This will in no way change what the Intrepid Evangelism ministry but will give it a level of accountability that has been much needed. I am very excited about what the Lord has planned. Be on the lookout for future guest blogs and reports from members of the Intrepid Evangelist network.

May the Lord be glorified as we proclaim His name unto the nations. Thanks for stopping by!

Until all the world hears,
Pastor Adam

Heading back to NC: the longest U-TURN ever!

2010-06-05T23:30:00.003-04:00

As I sit here and type this blog my family and I have officially been back in the "lower 48" for 8 days. So how far are we since leaving Bellingham, WA? According to Google map, we are 2 hours and 5 minutes from where we started last Friday. Are we hiking, biking, or just "loving the mother" and keeping down our carbon footprint as the Eco-pope Al Gore commands of us? Nope, nope, and definitely nope! So why have we only travelled such a short distance? Aha! That's where I gotcha. We have actually driven over 2400 miles. How? I call it the longest U-TURN ever!

Let me explain by winding the clock back about two months. Back in March, after prayer and much consideration, my wife and I decided it was time to trade-in our minivan for a passenger van. Our growing family, currently including 5 kids, needed something bigger and the next step was either a bus or a passenger van. We placed an order with a dealership in Tacoma, WA who was offering us a great discount on one we special ordered. Special ordering meant we would get exactly what we needed and not extras that would unnecessarily hike the price. The dealership placed the order and we were assured that it would be waiting for us once we arrived on May 28th. We already had a loan approved and were set to go.

Fast forward to the week of May 17th. I had just returned from the Psalm 119 conference in Dallas, TX and our movers were at our Juneau home packing everything up. The Tacoma dealership calls us with surprising news. The manufacturers of the van had shut the plant down for a week which in turn meant the vehicle would be delivered one week later and not on the May 28th date. Needless to say, this changed everything. Our original plans had us picking up the van, shooting down the west coast and across the lower portion of the U.S. until we reach the east coast where we would head north to NC. We were now faced with a dilemma, should we just forget about the van and just hit the road or find a way to keep ourselves occupied for a week. Well, the first option would definitely not work. Along with having each seat in our minivan loaded, ever corner crammed with luggage, we also had a Great Dane to carry with us. Having to travel that distance with that much cargo in that small of a vehicle would be next to impossible. Our ferry was scheduled to leave in a week and we racked our brains and weighed our options.

We eventually decided to just spend some vacation time in Southern California around the LA area. After stopping off at the dealership to let them know our plans they informed us that the van was scheduled to be on their lot June 4th. We set out for a two day trip south. We stayed the first night in a great hotel just outside of Grant's Pass, OR and set out the next morning for our next hotel about 3 hours north of LA. By Sunday around noon we arrived at our first vacation stop in Perris which was a small railroad museum. Unfortunately, it did not live up to expectations. The kids enjoyed some of the old rail cars but it seemed like most of the exhibits were closed. After a few hours we decided to pack up and head for Buena Park. The next day we took the kids to Knott's Berry Farm. Everyone had a blast! Camp Snoopy was by far the one place in the theme park that we spent the most time.

The next day we stopped by Living Waters so I could pick up some supplies from their store. I didn't call anyone I knew from there because I figured they would be too busy to stop and say hi. While we were in the store though Anita Alvarado popped in and was able to meet my wife and our kids. I had met Anita during the April 09 Ambassadors' Academy. We talked for a while before she had to get back to work. I hear Ray Comfort is a slave-drive :^) Apparently Anita told Tony Miano that we were there and he popped in also. It was a great encouragement to talk to him as I introduced him to my wife and kids. He asked how long we were in town and invited me to come with him and Chad Williams to a new area there were scoping out for the Academy participants to open-air preach and witness 1-2-1. I had to decline since we had plans to take the kids to the LA Zoo as soon as we left Living Waters and we were leaving LA the next day. He made sure that I had his cell number to call if we needed anything on our trip. It was a great encouragement to talk to and see him again.

With all the supplies I could handle (for now) we set out for the LA Zoo. Upon arrival my wife and I were somewhat skeptical. They were doing a lot of work on the parking lot and the zoo itself did not look very promising from the outside. We reluctantly paid for our tickets and entered. We were pleasantly surprised. The Zoo was very large and well kept. The kids were enthralled with each animal. The only one they missed seeing that they were really looking for was the rhinoceros. The sign on its enclosure said it was under vet care at the time. The zoo only stayed open until 5 pm and we wished we were able to spend more time at each enclosure.

That evening we met up with Dale and Anna Jackson for dinner. Both work with Living Waters. Dale is the techie behind a lot of the graphics and is helping to put together the next season of the Way of the Master. It was a blessing to fellowship with them and their two boys that evening also. On our way back to the hotel my wife and I debated staying in the area one more day. But with the promise that van would be in Tacoma in a few days and our a tighter schedule with less stops heading east we needed to get going.

The next morning we said goodbye to the LA area and headed back north. We marvelled at how beautiful California was and even talked about what it would be like to move there. That night we stayed in Redding and were up early the next morning to make our way to Tacoma. In all, I drove four solid days out of seven. My wife volunteered to drive a few hours for me on the way back as I worked on a few things on he laptop and napped for about 30 minutes.

The morning of June 4th we woke and headed for the dealership...no van was there. The people we were talking to said they were doing everything they could to track it. After about an hour someone had found out that it was just south on a rail car but would not be there on time. Our entire trip was now centered around this van. We decided to wait it out with the hope that the rail car would arrive Saturday. This morning we awoke and headed for the dealership and were greeted again with disheartening news. The van was in the rail yard but would not be off loaded until Monday morning. It was literally 20 minutes away and the dealership could not get it until workers from the rail yard came in Monday to move it 30 or so feet and sign a few pieces of paper. I'm sure I am making it more simpler than it really is but to the customer that is the way it seems.

At this point you are probably thinking that our frustration is directed at the dealership. But it is not. The two gentlemen who had handled this whole process have been more than helpful. The fact that the assembly plant shut down for a week and the train did not arrive on time was out of their control. In fact, one of the men offered for us to stay with him and his family. They even looked into paying to fly our dog to the east coast, until I told him that it would cost close to $1000 because of his size. After speaking with one of them today he is confident that since the van is in the rail yard, they can have it on the lot Monday.

It has been a long week. With many miles behind us and even more to go our trip has turned from a mini-vacation to just trying to get from point A to point B. At first we wondered if we were suppose to be getting this vehicle or not. But now we have begun to ask what is it that God has planned that He would keep us here. Could it be to foster patience in me? Could it be to ensure that a Gospel tract I leave gets to the one recipient whom God will save? It could be neither, it could be both. I may never know this side of Heaven. What I do know is that God is always in control of everything. There is no detail that He has not foreordained to occur. I can honestly say that is one of the most encouraging truths any Christian can ever have. Although I may get frustrated with plans that don't go the way I think they should I must remember that there is bigger plan constructed by the Master Designer which I must humbly submit to.

For now, I am looking for a place to open-air preach tomorrow night and am hoping to connect with someone in Tacoma from the Ambassadors' Alliance. I wonder what the Lord will have in store for us in the next few days.

Thank you for your prayers during our travels. May God be glorified in all we do. Thanks for stopping by!

Soli Deo gloria,
Pastor Adam

Heading back to NC: Juneau

2010-05-25T12:23:00.006-04:00

As I had stated in a previous blog, my family and I are moving back to Elizabeth City, NC. The next series of blogs will update you on some of the things we are doing as we cross this great nation.

On May 20th my family and I officially moved out of our home on Wood Duck Ave. Good friends and fellow Christians, Marion and Naomi Hobbs, invited us to stay at their lodge. Adlershiem Lodge is located 3 miles from the end of the road here in Juneau and is several miles from city electricity. They run the lodge using a generator but are working to install a wind turbine in the near future. While there we were able to see numerous humpback whales just yards off shore and a variety of other wildlife. It was a great relaxing time. Unfortunately while playing with the kids and climbing a large hill I slipped and twisted my ankle pretty bad. It is still fairly swollen and I can walk around, just not very fast. It just reminds me that I'm not a kid anymore :^)

On the 23rd we visited a local church here in Juneau. Later that afternoon I met a few of the faithful street evangelists for some open-air preaching downtown. The streets were packed with 4 cruise ships in that day. During the time I spent open-airing hundreds of tourists passed by.

Our ferry was originally scheduled to pull out 2:30 am on the 25th but had some engine trouble and changed its departure time to 5:30 pm on the same day instead. This gave me another opportunity to open-air downtown. I planned to head out earlier in the day but was unable to due to having to scramble to change things as a result of our ferry change. I had originally asked a few others to join me but I was heading out a little later than previously planned, they were unable to. So I set off by myself to open-air. After arriving downtown I realized I left my normal street preaching Bible, portable PA, and backpack with tracts back at the hotel. Needless to say, I felt very discouraged. I called my wife back at the hotel to confirm that I had left my backpack. No one was there to join me and most of what I normally carried was absent. I had a difficult time trying to get downtown all day long. It seemed that everything was working against me. But my wife reminded me that apparently someone was suppose to hear the message that night. With that word of encouragement I set out to preach.

I found a hill I had often ignored and paced back and forth for almost 10 minutes praying and reminding myself why I was there. I stepped up to preach several times but ended up stepping back each time. I turned to John 3, took a deep breath, and read through the chapter. Afterwards I exposited several passages and gave the Law and the Gospel. Some people stopped, some acted indifferent, some mocked quietly as they walked by. It had been a while since I had been out by myself and I started to understand why I needed to do so again.

The Lord reminded me that night that whether I have a large team of fellow believers or am completely alone, I must go and preach, I must share the Gospel with the lost. Unless the Lord so wills it, that would be my last time open-airing in Juneau, AK.

Tuesday was busy with numerous things to do. With our ferry rescheduled to pull out in the late afternoon rather than the early morning the additional time was already filled.

We spent most of the day reworking our itinerary because the passenger van we were buying would not be ready for a week after we arrived in WA. We would now be spending a week travelling up and down the west coast, still able to hit the main spots we wanted to but having to sacrifice others we planned for in the Midwest.

A good portion of this time was with the Follet family, letting the kids play together one last time. We then met with them again along with Nathaniel Buck, a young and budding street preacher I have been discipling, and his fiancee Dominika. It was soon time to leave and we found ourselves at the ferry terminal waiting to board. We gathered everyone together for one last group picture and said our final goodbyes.

As the ferry cast off we waved goodbye to our latest mission field. I pray the Lord will continue to raise up faithful laborers for the harvest. I pray He strengthen the seed-sowers who remain. It was truly a humbling experience to serve my risen Lord in Juneau. During that time He taught me many things, showing me my weaknesses and giving me an even greater burden for the lost. May He alone receive the glory for it all!

Stay tuned for the next blog: Bellingham and beyond. Thanks for stopping by!

Until all the world hears,
Pastor Adam

Resistance

2010-04-28T01:32:00.007-04:00

Some time ago I found out someone on our evangelism team was using unbiblical tracts to share the Gospel. One of these tracts specifically presented the Gospel as "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life" while another used the "Four Spiritual laws" as a hook. I decided to advise the entire team to only use the tracts we provided. We had more than enough so I figured this wouldn't be a problem. The team member in question had been through my Intrepid Evangelism intensive training and the Way of the Master Intermediate Course so this would seem a minor thing. However, I soon found out that the person viewed the use of the Law in evangelism as just one way among many to present the Gospel. This, and other issues, became a dividing point and he parted company from our team.

What became apparent to me was that there is a great deal of resistance from some over biblical evangelism. One would think that if you could show a fellow brother or sister precisely in Scripture where the use of the Law is vital in evangelism that they would simply turn from other unbiblical, man-centered, pragmatic attempts. Unfortunately though, this is not always the case. These fellow brothers and sisters usually fall into two categories: passive and aggressive. No, I don't mean they become aggressive in their disagreements but simply in the way they view approaches to evangelism.

Those in the passive group are more than happy to get trained in evangelism. Why? Because they view all approaches to evangelism as equally valid, regardless of whether they are supported by Scripture. They will sit through a Way of the Master or other evangelism course that teaches the use of Law to bring about the knowledge of sin. They nod and say "Amen" with little to no discernment or desire to be Bereans (Acts 17:10-11). In doing so they just lump the Law/Grace principles in with a myriad of others evangelism trainings they have received. To them it is just another "method". Such Christians are more dangerous than they realize because they are not really looking for biblical teaching. They are more willing to read from a workbook than the Bible!

Those in the aggressive group are a little more apprehensive. They have a particular way they like to evangelize and adhere to their method with devotion. They are firmly resistant to anyone saying their "method" is unbiblical. When asked to give Scripture to support their approach they are usually able to pull a few "examples" but nothing with any validity. Friendship evangelism is notorious for this. "Jesus made friends with people" is they battle cry.

But why such resistance? Two reasons: pride and tradition. Pride is a big factor because, let's face it, even most of us Christians have a hard time swallowing the humble pill of...GULP...being wrong. I was trained in a certain method of "evangelism" and even served to train others to follow this approach. Years later when the Lord showed me the biblical principles of evangelism I had to come to grips with the fact that I had been following a man-centered method and taught others to do so as well. It was hard to swallow at first, but God used that to drive me closer to His Word and rely more heavily on it that ever before. Tradition creeps its way in because some well-meaning brothers and sisters just can't part with what they were taught whether it's biblical or not.

So how should one approach such resistance? With much prayer and love but without compromise! Take them to the Scriptures that show the use of the Law in evangelism. Here are a few:
Matthew 5:17-19, 21-22, 27-28, 33-37; 6:24; 14:4; 15:19-20; 19:9
Mark 7:6-13; 10:17-22; 12:28-34
Luke 16:14-18
John 4:16-18; 5:45-47
Acts 5:1-10; 7:39-41, 51-53; 17:16-31; 28:23
Romans 2:21-24; 3:19-20; 7:7-13; 13:8-9
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Galatians 5:19-20
Ephesians 6:2-3
Colossians 3:5-9; 6:9-10
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10
1 Timothy 1:8-11
2 Timothy 3:2-3
James 1:23-25; 2:8-9, 11-12; 4:12
Jude 6-7, 13-18

I would also recommend having them listen to Ray Comfort's "Hell's Best Kept Secret". They can do so for free by clicking play below:

Stay strong, do not compromise, and don't quit. Thanks for stopping by. Soli Deo gloria!

Until all the world hears,
Pastor Adam

The Intrepid Evangelist is moving

2010-04-10T12:54:00.003-04:00

The Intrepid Evangelist is moving. I don't mean the website or the blog. I mean myself and my family are literally moving...out of Juneau, AK. About a month and a half ago I received military orders to be stationed in Chesapeake, VA. This is a much anticipated and exciting move for us because we are heading back to our hometown (Elizabeth City, NC) near family and friends we had left 3 years ago. Even more exciting is what the Lord is doing back there already.

Back in November, my family and I went home for Thanksgiving. During this time I organized a few evangelism outings where 6-8 other Christians came out to reach the lost with the Gospel. I open-air preached each time, two nights to crowds waiting to enter a local theatre. You can read more about this by checking out my blogs Down home part 3 and Down home part 4.

Recently, my brother-in-law attended the Ambassadors' Academy that I had attended in April '09. I had told him about it during our Thanksgiving vacation and was excited to learn that he would be attending. His church sponsored him for the March '10 Academy and he is coordinating an outreach during the local Potato Festival. He and another brother, who will prayerfully be attending the Academy next year, hit the streets a few weeks ago for some open-air preaching. I am excited to get back home and begin organizing Intrepid Evangelism outreaches with our new church and start-up biblical evangelism trainings.

At the same time though, I am saddened to leave our group here because I will miss their faithfulness and fellowship. A young brother in Christ is raising support to attend the May Academy and I pray that he will spear-head the outreaches after I leave.

The next few months will be very busy for my family and I. I ask that you keep us in your prayers not just for our move but for our continued faithfulness during this time. I also ask that you pray for the brother who is raising support for the Ambassadors' Academy. He will be getting married in August and is working several jobs to pay for the upcoming wedding, which includes flying his fiance and her family from another country to Alaska. If you would like to financially help, please send me an email (adam@doulostheou.com) and I will give you more details.

Thanks for stopping by!

Soli Deo gloria,
Pastor Adam

A car that's standing still

2010-04-10T11:12:00.006-04:00

I've been slowly working my way through John MacArthur's "The Master's plan for the Church" and have pulled incredible nuggets of info from its pages. The premise of the book is not to help someone model their church after MacArthur's Grace Community Church but to understand the biblical principles of what a local church really is. One section in particular had an incredible analogy that really hit home for me.

"If you've ever tried to steer a car that's standing still, you know it's very difficult. But once it gets rolling, it's much easier to manuever." (p. 146)

The premise behind this analogy is fairly evident. The steering wheel determines the direction of the vehicle but it becomes much easier to turn it once you get going. No matter how hard you turn the wheel though, if the vehicle is not moving your desire for it to proceed in a certain direction is futile. When people refuse to follow the guidance of church leadership there is little you can do to get them moving.

Not too long ago I called a fellow brother in Christ about some problems I was facing in my church. Rather than giving me a step-by-step solution to the problem he reminded me that I could not change the people involved. They were unwilling to move on certain things and I just seemed to be hitting the same brick wall every time.

In addition to this, I have taught and preached on the necessity of actively and biblically sharing the Gospel. I have offered numerous opportunities to learn the basic principles of biblical evangelism with little attendance and even less desire to follow through with the Great Commission. My problem though was that I was becoming too focused on the unfaithful than the faithful few.

I do have a small group of faithful Christians who desire to glorify God by loving the lost through biblical evangelism and want to be a part of a dedicated New Testament church. Whenever I coordinate an open-air preaching outreach, a Prayer Station, or other evangelistic efforts they are almost always there. Most of them have actively participated in Project Ezra with me and some of them recently joined my family and I for Mission Good Friday.

Unlike the vehicle that isn't moving, this one is pressing forward and responsive to my steering and direction. The faster a vehicle is moving the less amount of effort it takes to steer it. Even a slight turn will send the car veering in the intended direction. Little is needed to get this group going because they are almost always ready and willing.

For my fellow laborers, if you take nothing away, please remember this: do not expend too much of your energy trying to get people on board with biblical evangelism. Don't give up on them, continue to show them the Scriptures that teach such. But in doing so please understand that you can't get a stationary car moving, you can only steer it when it does get going. You can easily fall into the same pit of discouragement and exhaustion that others have when you try to get people moving by your own effots. Be faithful in what God has allotted you to do, pray for those who do not have a desire to share the Gospel with the lost, and press forward. The Lord is in charge of the harvest, we must simply be faithful by being in the field.

For His glory alone,

Pastor Adam

The latest man-centered Gospel attempt

2010-03-26T02:47:00.008-04:00

While the title of the blog may have given this away already, I would like you to play a short game with me. Take a look at the video below, BUT stop it at the 20 second mark.

So, hopefully you followed my direction. If you did here is my question for you. Who do you think created that 30 second commercial? Was it:

A) The Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormons)
B) The Unitarian Universalists Organization of America
C) The Southern Baptist Convention
D) Americans Churches for Social Change

Take your time....ready? If you said "D" you are likely just tired of hearing the whole social justice/social Gospel junk pushed by the emergents, but your answer was wrong. If you said "B", well you probably didn't because the UU group really doesn't care what you believe as long as it doesn't question what they believe. So it's not "B". Now if you said "A" then you were in the same mindset as myself, my wife, and several others who have seen this video. To me it looks exactly like what the Mormon cult peddles. Happy life, refocuses priorities, personal fulfillment, and such. But guess what, it wasn't produced by the Mormons. Guess what that leaves? Sadly "C", the Southern Baptist Convention.

Let me pause here and state this very clearly: I am an ordained, licensed Southern Baptist Pastor who is currently shepherding a church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention here in Juneau, AK. I have great respect for many SBC Pastors such as Pastor Johnny Hunt and Dr. Albert Moehler. They are not alone in their adherence to Scripture and thrust for training up the saints to carry out the soul mission of the church which is the Great Commission. But unfortunately what the SBC has been producing is anything but biblical evangelism. Do not misunderstand me here though. I am in no way saying the SBC is heretical but simply that they have fallen into the pragmatic, relevant ditch of trying to increase church numbers with false advertising thus playing down to the felt needs of the unregenerate heathen.

It has become a numbers game. "Does that type of evangelism work? Well, let's see the numbers? What kind of worship music should we use? Well, let's see what brings in the most people. What should our sermons be about? Whatever brings in the masses." Say it with me...UGH!

This latest ploy is a part of the SBC's GPS (Global Plan for Sharing). At first I thought, "YES. Getting the body of believers out into the streets to share the Gospel biblically, the way Jesus did". But that is not the case.

In one sentence, here is basically how this new campaign is to work: Advertise your church with this and other commercials along with billboards, posters, etc. to attract unbelievers to your church. Specifically target Resurrection Sunday, but make sure to call it Easter so they are not scared away, and report back the great numerical results. Hmmmm, something doesn't sound right here. Oh yeah, inviting people to church ISN'T evangelism. Christ said "Go and make disciples" not "Stay and advertise". Can a church advertise itself? Yes! But not with the sole purpose of trying to get more people into church. Let believers know where your fellowship meets and let the heathen know where the slaves of Christ congregate.

Aside from the issue of advertising there is a much more serious issue with this attempt. Four words can describe it: "It's all about ME". Me, me, me, me, me, and just in case you didn't notice MMMEEEE! It is a man-centered Gospel. Go back and watch the video again. This time listen to the reasons these people "came to church". Go ahead, I'll wait here.

Done? Did you hear their reasons? In any of their "testimonies" did you actually hear the Gospel? Did you hear anything about depravity, sinfulness, repentance, the work of Christ, or salvation from sin? Did you hear anything close to that? No, you sure didn't. They have made Christ a fix-all to your personal woes.

"Come to Jesus, He'll give you purpose, peace, a better marriage, right priorities, fulfillment, happiness, and anything else you feel you are missing." When did this become the Gospel? I like to think of myself as someone who tries to put a good construction on things but I am hard pressed to do so with this.

So, if we could redo this commercial and make it as an actual evangelistic outreach and not about filling church pews and seats how would it sound? Maybe something like this:

"Sure, I was a good person. I helped people, I love my wife and kids. I was respectful to my boss and spoke kindly to others. I even got involved in some volunteer work every now and then. Go to Heaven? Sure, why wouldn't God let me in? (pause) Why? Because I am a liar, I have used God's name as a filth word, I have lusted after other women, I have muttered hateful comments about my boss when he's not around, and all the time telling myself that God owed me something. Why should I be let into Heaven? I shouldn't! God should send me to Hell for all eternity because I have sinned against Him. That's exactly what He would do when I die. (pause) But 2000 years ago, God the Father sent His Son Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man. He lived a perfect and sinless life. About thirty years into that life He voluntarily went to the cross and died. What happened that day was a legal transaction. Jesus paid my fine on the cross. He took my punishment for sinning against God. The Father judged the Son in my place. Why should I be let into Heaven? I shouldn't...but I will be. Once I saw myself as a wretched sinner I repented of my sins and put my trust in Jesus Christ. When I die God I will not stand before God guilty but innocent but only because of what Christ did on the cross. Don't wait to come to church, don't wait until Easter or the next Sunday. If you have violated any of God's Ten Commandments you will be judged and sent to Hell for all eternity. Repent and trust in Jesus Christ today for the complete forgiveness of sin and God will graciously save you."

Maybe a little more than 30 seconds but it actually presents the biblical Gospel. Our thrust in evangelism is to glorify God and see people repent and trust in Christ not to get them to come to our church.

When approached to be a part of this "outreach" I declined and sent a detailed email to my state convention explaining why it was an unbiblical attempt. I cannot judge the intentions of those behind it, I can only assume they are genuine. But what I can judge is the result of their efforts. Maybe you think I am being to critical from just this one video. There are several videos even worse than this one.

Maybe you or your church is involved in this. Maybe you adamantly disagree with me. That's okay, you can disagree with me. But how about we start first with the Bible and put aside our man-centered, man-made methods for once. Love God and love the lost. Let's get back to the biblical presentation of the Gospel. Let's be more concerned with seeking and saving the lost rather than filling the pews and seats of our churches.

Don't know how to biblically share your faith? Check out http://www.wayofthemaster.com/

May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward for His suffering.

Soli Deo gloria,
Pastor Adam

BUSTED!

2010-02-28T21:06:00.005-05:00

A few Saturdays ago I planned a fishin' trip to one of our local malls here. We had just finished up the Way of the Master Intermediate Training course and I wanted to get everyone out at the same time.

Only a handful of people showed up (about the number that I thought) and we found ourselves amidst an event in the mall. This meant this fishin' pond was well-stocked for this hour long trip. I stocked everyone up with the tracts and NT's I had in my backpack and sent the out. I had created a a 5 question survey and attached it to the clipboard which a few of our team also used. I decided to walk around and take pictures this time as my wife walked around with the kids, placing tracts where ever they went.

After about 45 minutes two of our team members came looking for me. They had stated that a woman from one of the stores had seen them handing out tracts and told them they couldn't solicit in the mall. They replied trying to explain that the manager had seen them doing this before and did not have any objection then. They came to me to get a contact card for this person to talk with me directly. However, when they returned to give her my card she was gone.

I soon gathered everybody together for a quick debrief before we parted. Just when we were about to leave the mall manager approached us and was not happy. I had met her before because we had been given permission to setup the Prayer Station during December. She accused us of soliciting in the mall and said we needed to have a table if we wanted to hand out information. I started to reason with her but realized she was being very unreasonable. I did not want to cause a scene in the mall so I told her if she was now restricting us from handing out tracts unless we had a table I agreed. Since this is a private business and not a public area, we must abide by whatever rules they set...so far as they do not violate our own personal rights.

A few of our team members were discouraged and a little upset by her accusations. I decided to send out an email to our team later that day encouraging them to not give up. During the next few days I designed two t-shirts that would help in our future endeavors. The first one is pictured below:

I figured with a phrase on a shirt that says "Did you get your million dollar bill? They're FREE, just ask" someone would eventually ask for one. I couldn't be accused of "soliciting" if someone asked me for something.

My other shirt was a little more aggressive:
A little over a week after our run-in at the mall I was called by the owner of mall bookstore. I was a little surprised but figured out pretty quickly what it was about. It became apparent that this was the person who chastised our two young team members. She had found some tracts tucked into a few of the books in their store and, putting two and two together, figured that it was someone affiliated with me. Since she didn't have my name and number I could only conclude that she had gone to the mall manager for my information. She proceeded to throw a few false accusations my way and even went so far as to call the two she had spoken to Saturday "liars". Well, I took a few moments to correct her and said she needs to be very careful about making such accusations. She backed down quickly after that and simply told me we were no longer allowed to put that "information" in their store. I politely told her I would let everyone on my team know and we would cease and desist. In doing so I informed her that if she found tracts in there in the future she should not assume that we were the ones who placed them there. This was a bit shocking to her because she had never considered the notion that other Christians would be distributing tracts. I thanked her for her time and said goodbye. While containing books you would expect to find anywhere the bookstore contains good sized sections on New Age material, paganism, tarot cards, Wiccan, Buddhism, evolution, and a variety of heretical views of the Savior. Oh yeah, and a small section of "Christian" books. Juneau, AK is a very liberal city. Some have even called it the little San Fran of Alaska.

As I reflected back on the conversation I found it interesting how the events had transpired. First, the run-in with the mall manager and now this. Was bookstuffing a bad idea? Nope! Is it illegal? Only if you did it after being specifically told not to. I still stuff books in other stores on a regular basis.

What has become very apparent to me is that the enemy does not like the Gospel getting out to the lost. Satan has no problem with professing Christians who keep their Christianity private and confined within the walls of their local church. But when you are actually on the battlefield, expect to get targeted.

With my family and I departing from Juneau in the next 3 months I am praying that those who remain will stay encouraged and faithful. May God build a hedge around them and as they seek to glorify Him through the proclamation of His Gospel.

Thanks for stopping by!

Soli Deo gloia,
Pastor Adam

Biblical Evangelism: How Jesus evangelized

2010-02-24T21:16:00.003-05:00

More hecklers than you can shake a stick at (bad grammer aside)

2010-01-30T22:11:00.004-05:00

This past Friday (Jan 29th) I headed back to Front St here in Juneau, AK with Nathaniel Buck and another brother. We headed out around 11:15 that evening after prayer. This was only the second time I had open-air preached in that area that late at night. To read about our first encounter check out the previous blog.

With the PA cranked up, my "Are you ready?" cross resting on the easel, a backpack full of tracts and NT's, and Nathaniel and the other brother close by I started preaching. Just as we had seen a few weeks before, there were several large groups of people gathered outside the bars to smoke. Because of the ban on smoking inside bars here, this provided a steady flow of people coming in and out. At the start of the evening we were blessed to have a local Juneau police officer, Officer Murphy, come up and thank us for preaching the Gospel. I later found out that he was a very outspoken brother in Christ. That was a wonderful blessing. I thanked him for his service and he continued on with his duties for the evening.

Shorty after Officer Murphy left, our hecklers started gathering. Before we had started I told my team that I would try and gather hecklers by asking for anyone who disagrees with me to step up. Well, that did the trick. A young lady (probably early 20's...or younger) came toward me shouting profanities and stumbling all the way. Her friend, who was a little less intoxicated accompanied her. As I knew would happen, she began criticizing me for telling people they shouldn't be drinking or at the bars. But I had not said a word about either. Our young, drunk heckler was doing just what I desired: drawing a crowd. Several people outside the bars started to take notice and move a little closer to the corner where I was preaching.

A few of them just sat on the corner across from us against the wall and listened for a while. Within about 30 minutes we had attracted a lot of attention, much more than I had anticipated. Nathaniel had initially walked down the street to hand out tracts but came walking back when he saw people gathering. There were several witnessing encounters with people while I continued preaching. Most of them came up to him asking what the "Are you ready?" on the cross meant.

Our hecklers cycled through every 10 minutes or so. Out of one group, one man professed to being a druid pagan (seems kind of redundant) and wanted to debate creation. I tried not to spend too much time on creation but used it to transition into presenting the Law and the Gospel to him. It was then that I noticed our fellow brother had struck up another conversation about the cross with a gentlemen to my right. I saw the cross lifted off the easel and at first thought he was going to hold it while he spoke to the guy. However, I found out it was the drunk gentleman who grabbed the cross. He turned it upside down and grasped it like he was ready to take a swing. He tried to coax the gentleman away from me as he walked into the middle of the street. Just when it seemed like I was going to have to use some evasive maneuvering a bouncer from one of the bars came over and grabbed the guy to usher him back inside. He grabbed the cross from him and replaced it on the easel.

Only a little while later an older man decided he wanted to test my "manliness". He walked right up to me and stood only a few inches away. Let me pause here to say this: About two weeks ago I decided to purchase a folding preaching stool that is about 10 inches taller than my previous one. It has a single step where I can place the PA and it easy to carry around. This new stool proved to be very handy with this encounter since this man was a few inches taller that I on level ground. On the stool though, I stood a good deal taller than him. "Look in my left eye," he said. At first I thought he was joking and was going to pull it out to show me it was a glass eye so just gave him a quick glance. He didn't like that. "You can't do it," he shouted and then proceeded to jab his finger into my chest. Now it wasn't enough to send me backward but it did catch me off guard. Until then, no one had ever touched me while I was standing on the stool and preaching. I expected the situation to escalate but he decided to just curse at me as he walked away.

I glanced at my watch and realized it was getting late. I took one more opportunity to preach the Law and the Gospel giving anyone who disagreed the opportunity to say so. When no one responded I pleaded one last time for their repentance toward God and shut off my PA as I stepped down.

That night I was blessed to have many hecklers, an almost first hand look at what a ball experiences in batting practice, and a few sharp pokes because I wouldn't engage in a staring contest. It is always a humbling experience to be able to preach God's Word. I thank my Lord for seeing me worthy enough to experience what I did that night. I also thank Him for having Nathaniel and our other brother there with me that night.

We are looking forward to heading out to the same spot again in the next few weeks. So until then, get out there and share your faith while you still have time.

May He alone receive the praise for He alone is worthy. Thanks for stopping by!

For His name,
Pastor Adam

Quarter tossing hecklers and late night street preaching

2010-01-17T20:42:00.005-05:00

This past Saturday night (Jan 16th) I met up with a fellow brother (who wishes to remain anonymous due to missions work so we'll call him Jack) and Nathaniel Buck around 10pm for some open-air preaching. The previous week I was blessed to team up with a few others from our WOTM Intermediate evangelism training to share the Law and the Gospel on Front Street here in Juneau, AK. Front Street holds 3 of the most popular bars in Juneau. Some time ago a law was passed that prevented smoking inside the bars so the sidewalks were lined with people stepping out of their "watering holes" to light up. At the end of that evening I planned to come back the following week with my cross. However, during the week I decided that I just needed to jump right into it and engage in some street preaching.

On Thursday of this past week I "cased" Front Street and chose the corner in front of the McDonald's. This corner looked right down the street and the popular fast-food chain closed at 9pm giving us access to the corner without hindering anyone entering the restaurant.

After meeting at the parking garage we headed out. Jack carried my "Are you ready?" cross while Nathaniel carried my tripod and stepstool. I hauled my backpack filled with copies of the NT, several tracts, my portable PA system, and and few gloves to keep me warm. At the corner we opened up with prayer and began setting everything up. At least one person would be standing by the person open-air preaching for safety purposes. During my first two messages I only had two hecklers. My first heckler came up to me but when I wouldn't let him interupt he tossed me a quarter. It was all I could to do to keep from laughing (that was a first). As he walked away though, I continued preaching. The other heckler ended up talking to Nathaniel. Nathaniel later told me he claimed to by a wayward (and drunk) Catholic who thought what we were doing wrong and should just let people believe what they wanted. During the first open-air my PA started acting up such I used my "internal" amplification system to preach the second time. Because of the volume I normally preach at on the streets, this meant that I would need a break in between to recover.

During our time there, Nathaniel stepped up to open-air. This was not his first time, and will definitely not be his last. Once he had done so, Jack stepped up. This was Jack's first time and he chose to read from John 3, stopping every so often to exposite a verse or two. He did a great job. I am truly looking forward to partnering with him again in the near future.

Nathaniel decided to follow up with the lady named Trish whom I had witnessed to the week before. He later reported that she willingly took several NT's and Gospel tracts to hand out. I am not sure if she is saved yet or not so please continue to pray for her.

The evening was slipping away and it was passed 1130 pm when I stepped up to preach the 3rd time. This time I decided to begin with my testimony, something I had not done before. You can check out the YouTube videos below:

There seemed to be a few hecklers off in the distance but I didn't "count" them among our evening hecklers because they were too far out to hear. Jack open-aired one more time after my 3rd message. By this time it was about 10 to midnight and I thought we needed to wrap everything up. I decided to close using some statistics from the Open Air pocket guide written by Anna "Banana" Jackson. (You can purchase the pocket guide by follow the link). It is a handy tool for any street preacher. I went through a section that gives the odds of different causes for death. The ultimate statistic of course being "1 out of 1 people die...period". This attracted a few other hecklers than earlier. Two of whom took station on the corner across from us. One of these two women was slightly drunk while the other seemed very lucid. The drunk woman accused me of judging her for being out drinking. Interestingly I had never condemned anyone for doing so. During my testimony earlier I did talk about my own short battle with alcohol but had never spoken against those drinking, I just used the Law.

There is an old saying: "Throw a stone in a pack of dogs and the one that yelps is the one who got hit". It seemed, that even amidst her intoxication she got hit by the Law. Although I assured her I had not mentioned anything against her barhopping and drinking she persisted to correct me. After a few minutes she changed her tone to simply "Don't judge". I told her that I was not judging her I was just pronouncing the judgment God has declared in His Word. I attempted to use the analogy of a police officer pulling over a speeding citizen but she was quick to tell me she was married to a police officer and "not to go there". Those were her last words as she marched back to the bar. Her lucid friend though stayed behind, and while she did not heckle she still have some questions.

After my open-air Jack and I were able to talk with her a bit. She had lost a loved one 10 years ago and was still dealing with the grief. Because of it, she had a hard time believing in God. We attempted to share the Law again with her and speak of Christ, doing so compassionately and carefully, but she tried changing the subject as often as she could. After a while it was evident that she wasn't willing to talk. She then excused herself and we parted shaking hands. Her name was Lisa. Please be in prayer that God would convict her of her sin and she would cast herself before His throne of grace in repentance.

I looked at my watch and realized my last open-air had taken longer than I thought. It was almost 1230 am and I needed to get home before my wife worried. We huddled together at the same corner and ended the evening in prayer. As we walked the few blocks back to our cars I looked back over the past two and a half hours eager to come back. We have a new idea for where to position the preaching stool next time though...but you'll just have to wait and see.

Thanks for stopping by.

For His glory,
Pastor Adam

Out of the comfort zone: late night street fishin'

2010-01-09T23:55:00.007-05:00

This past Friday I was blessed to go downtown with a group of believers who have been attending the Way of the Master Intermediate course. I met a fellow brother named Jeremy Bracken about 3 weeks ago. His cousin gave him my name when he expressed interest in learning how to share the Gospel and teaming up with others to hit the streets. Jeremy has a particular desire to minister to the homeless population here in Juneau and has frequented the local soup kitchen/shelter called the Glory Hole. He has spent a good amount of his time recently downtown late Friday and Saturday evenings. This is when the bars are most populated and the streets are full of barhoppers, some of whom are very much intoxicated. This past week he asked if I would like to accompany him so he could see how I put the principles of biblical evangelism into practice.

Nathaniel Buck, who regularly came with us during our street fishin' last summer, accompanied us as well as Cal Hiebsch, who is very familiar with biblical evangelism and Ray Comfort's ministry. We decided to meet around 10 pm near the downtown parking garage. After praying for the Lord to use us that evening we split up into teams of two. Nathaniel and Cal went in one direction and Jeremy and myself to another route. The first gentleman Jeremy introduced me to on our walk was a worker from the Glory Hole who calls himself Cowboy. He was a very polite and kindhearted gentleman who also walks the streets trying to help some of the soup kitchen regulars when they become intoxicated. He admitted to being raised as a Baptist but had not been to church in a long time. He had some biblical knowledge but it was very muddled. I attempted to share the Law and the Gospel with him but a highly intoxicated gentleman interrupted us after the first 10 minutes. I attempted to introduce myself to him and he responded with extremely foul language and a few threats. He was so intoxicated that when a police officer drove by he started cursing at him as well. The officer stopped to talk to him and apparently assessed that he wasn't a threat and was able to calm him down for a bit. Public drunkeness is not illegal in Alaska because it is seen as "disease" and not just an addiction. After a few more interrupted exchanges I realized I wouldn't be able to finish my conversation with Cowboy and we excused ourselves.

As we walked down Franklin Street several more people were spilling out of bars stumbling and shouting. As we approached Front Street the crowd became a little younger. The bars on Front Street are frequented more by the younger crowds and the college age. We met up with Cal and Nathaniel at the corner of Front and Seward Street. Cal was busy witnessing to several people. We decided that this was a great intersection and took a street corner each. Jeremy wanted to walk around a little more but said he would make his way back soon. Before we took our respective corners I handed a NT to the lady inside a small grill shack next to where I would be standing.

This area proved to be a great spot to witness and hand out tracts. Cal cornered several people in the parking lot behind where he was standing and Nathaniel stood in front of the McDonald's handing out tracts. After handing out several tracts myself I walked back to the grill shack to talk with the lady inside named Trish. She told me how the building where her original grill was had burned down and she was permitted by the owner of the lot to set up the the small shack she was currently using. She pointed to the large vacant lot behind her and said that was where she was once setup. Her parents were immigrants from India but she was born in Missouri. Her boyfriend of 20 years had died several years ago and she kept a picture of him in front of their old business just behind her. She had a Bible at home that she admitted to reading very regularly. As I took her through the Law it was apparent that she had never heard of sin. When I came to the issue of eternal judgment in Hell because of her violation of God's Law she was evidently concerned. Her demeanor had completely changed. It was only then that I took her to the cross and explained what Christ had done. She seemed very genuine in her concern and understood that she should respond with repentance and faith to partake of salvation in Christ. She agreed to let me pray for her and I gave her a card with my website address so she could contact me if she wanted.

The rest of our evangelism team was gathered at the corner already. Cal told me had the opportunity to continue sharing the Gospel with several people in the parking lot nearby. It was nearly midnight and I had promised my lovely wife that I would not be out too late. We circled up to end the evening the way we begin: with prayer.

I pray the Lord was glorified in our service that evening. I look forward to our next late night street fishin'. Next time, I think I will take my cross to stand on one of the corners with. I also plan to do some open-air preaching in the near future there as well. Thank you to everyone who was praying for us that evening.

Thanks for stopping by!

In service to the King,
Pastor Adam

Family fun in DC

2010-01-06T15:20:00.009-05:00

On the morning of Nov 30th we left NC after visiting with family and friends for almost two weeks. Because of the airline we use, we had to fly into and out of Washington DC. So we decided to spend some time in our nation's capitol on a little family vacation before leaving for Juneau Dec 2nd. We arrived in Washington DC that afternoon and planned on visiting a few of the memorials. But our attempt proved futile. It was raining and very cold. We are use to rain and cold in Juneau but none of us were dressed for it. So we decided to spend some time relaxing in the hotel that night. We found a great Thai restaurant that delivered, plugged in my laptop to the TV to play a good family movie and just kicked back.

The next morning with everyone dressed we headed out, stopping at a local DD (Dunkin' Doughnuts) for breakfast....not doughnuts for me though. Then we headed off to the Lincoln Memorial. The day before it took us a while to find a place to park but I found a place fairly quickly this time. My wife strapped on her baby pouch, we buttoned everyone up, I grabbed a handful of tracts and we started walking.

I was rather amazed how big the Lincoln Memorial was. There were so many different aspects of it with the murals and etchings. There was even a spot on the steps that marked the location where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood to give his famous speech. As we walked away from the monument I pulled out the Lincoln Trillion Dollar Bills tracts. A large group of students were walking right toward us and I was able to hand every single one of them out as they passed. Savannah and Elijah, had the some of the Michael Jackson Millions Dollar bills and handed some of theirs out also.

We walked along the reflection pool, which was empty, toward the WWII memorial. It was breathtaking! I took so many pictures of this one memorial that I am trying to them together in a comprehensive slide show for YouTube. There was just too much to see and not enough time to see it.

We finished our walking tour at the Washington monument. From the base of the monument there was an incredible perspective of the Senate, the White House, the WWII, and Lincoln Memorials. In the distance we could see the setup for the lighting of the Christmas tree that would happen in the following week. The kids were beginning to get a little antsy. We had promised them we would visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to see "Rexy", the fossil of a T-Rex (named Rexy from the "Night at the Museum" movies). We tried to find our way into the National Reserve but with lunch fast approaching we decided to start our long walk back to the car.

With everyone buckled in we set about trying to find our way to the museum. We drove around for about 45 minutes trying to find a spot and ended up driving past the Senate. We finally found a parking garage several blocks away. While walking we decided to just have lunch inside the museum, which proved to be even more expensive than I had anticipated....YIKES! Just inside the museum entrance was a display celebrating the evolutionary pope of humanism, Charles Darwin. We started our museum tour in the aquatic life section. The kids "ooh'ed" and "ahh'ed" as well as "eew'ed" and "yuck'ed" at some of the critters.

As we entered the fossil section the small display I saw at the entrance was magnified throughout the area. "Billions of years, millions of years, primordial soup, our brothers...the apes" was plastered everywhere. My kids were enamored with the large dino fossils. It was a great teaching moment and we reiterated the fact that most of these fossils were likely formed during the Flood of Noah's day. My children and I talked about how the Bible reaffirms the reality of these fossils and how most of the information on these plaques were just sinful man's ideas that try to push God out of the picture. It was hard keeping up with them as they darted from one display to the other. I looked around and was broken-hearted when I realized just how many people were being deceived into thinking they had evolved from slime. I wished it were legal to do some open-air preaching right there. I would have climbed atop the stegosaurus and preached from Genesis 1.

After walking through the geological section and taking pictures of what was undoubtedly some of the most beautiful structures in God's creation we finished touring through this museum and decided we could get to the American History museum before it became too late. While most of the museum was very interesting, two sections in particular made my skin just crawl (I'll blog about them next time though). Unfortunately, it was getting late and we needed to get going before we were walking down the streets in the dark.

I truly wished we could had two more days there. I still wanted to get the kids to the Air and Space Museum and visit some of the other monuments. While heading back to our hotel my wife and I pledged to bring the kids back again when we get back to the east coast.

We finished packing and stuffing everything into our rental SUV for the trip to the airport the next morning.

Dec 2nd: It was time to leave the east coast. Our mini-vacation in DC had been a blast. The kids were able to see a lot of the places they had studied in homeschool and we were able to reinforce some of the biblical training we had given them about creation and evolution. We were able to get to our flight with ease, even the long layover in Seattle wasn't that bad. There was much to do back in Juneau but we already had begun to miss our family and friends back home.

I thank the Lord for a safe and enjoyable time. I also thank Him for a good Christian family back in Juneau who watched over our house and two Great Danes (big thanks to Kayla and Katie Follet).

Thanks for stopping by!

In service to the King,

Pastor Adam

Down home: part 5

2010-01-05T13:41:00.007-05:00

Nov 28th: Since we had enjoyed Thanksgiving with my side of the family, my father-in-law invited us to have Thanksgiving with him the Saturday following. We stayed with him the evening of the 27th and 28th. The meal was incredible, with my wife making several of the items including a great pecan pie. And just for clarification, it is pronounced pee-kan and not pee-kaun. I'm not moving on that one :^)

Nov 29th: My father-in-law wanted us to attend his church, Poplar Branch Baptist, which is the same one my brother-in-law and sister-in-law attended. Understand, this is just a one time first impression I am about to express so it may not be typical for every service of this church. We arrived in time for Sunday School and waited for the nursery attendant to show up. My wife had a separate class from myself, my father-in-law, and brother-in-law. "Okay", I thought, "just a different way of organizing Sunday School...not my cup of tea but nothing wrong with it at all".

The class was more of a lecture than a lesson. The teacher read every passage of Scripture himself and never asked anyone to assist. He never posed any questions about the lesson, although a few people chimed in. There was little application spoken of and I really walked away without any sense of Scripture really being taught. But again, it may have just been an off day for the teacher.

A children's teacher asked my three oldest if they would like to help sing a song the other children had been practicing for the Christmas service. Against my better judgment I said yes. The song, while cute, had little to do with the Christmas message and more about just being cute. I didn't quite understand why they wanted my kids singing a song they had only heard for the first time that morning. That posed another issue: that the Sunday School class my kids attended was either interrupted for "song practice" or was completely devoted to practicing the song.

The hymns were very traditional and God-exalting. While I do love to hear some Christ-centered, theological songs from contemporary writers there is just something about those lofty hymns that I will never get over. A choir entered the sanctuary at the beginning of service. One gentleman was wearing a shirt that I would consider inappropriate for standing in such a position. The shirt was not vulgar but had the name of a not-so-God exalting heavy metal music group blasted across the front. Now, if you are not a Christian and visiting the church then I would not see a problem with sitting in the pews and wearing such. But if you are in the choir and doing so there are two problems: 1) No Christian should be listening to such music, let alone advertising the group with his apparel and 2) If you have been selected to stand before the church in a choir and lead the congregation in praising God with song, you MUST dress appropriately...period.

I met the Pastor before the service. My father-in-law had apparently told him about me and my family as well as our ministry in Juneau. He said he had done some street-preaching in Bible college years ago. Just a side note here:

I've heard that several times from other preachers. They did some street preaching while attending Christian college/seminary but outside of that time have never done so again. To me, that is just a little troubling. Some of the greatest preachers (Spurgeon, Whitfield, Wesley) preached from the pulpits and were on the streets hours later doing the same. I think the pulpit has become too comfortable a place for some.

Anyhow, as the Pastor began his sermon he focused on Acts 16:25-26. The Pastor posts his sermon outlines on the church's website. You can click here to see the outline. The title of the message was "Jail House rock"....hmmmmm. My interest was peaked not because of the title but because I wanted to see how he would apply this passage to Thanksgiving or maybe the Christmas celebration at hand. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let me give you the context of this passage in Acts:

After God had given Paul a vision of a Macedonian man pleading with Paul to bring the Gospel to them, Paul was eager to be on his way. Both he and Silas travelled to Phillipi, the primary city of Macedonia. There first encounter there was with Lydia, who was converted and baptized. Their next encounter was with a demon-possessed girl bent on following and mocking them for several days. Paul cast out the demon but her masters were not happy because it appears that she was a source of income for them in some manner. Outraged, her masters had Paul and Silas flogged and cast into prison. In verse 25 Paul and Silas begin praising God through song and prayer. Why? Because they were humbled that God had counted them worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. Acts 5:21 records such praise after the Apostles were flogged by the Sanhedrin and Paul comforts the persecuted in 2 Thessalonians 1:5, "Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer".

What the Pastor preached though was that Paul and Silas were praising God for the blessing they were about to receive, their release from prison. The rest of the message was centered around the manifestation of future blessings. My wife actually grabbed me when he first started it because she knew exactly what I was thinking. It came uncomfortably close to a prosperity message minus the damnable heresy...thankfully. There were numerous other portions of the message that had me restraining my own tongue and shifting in my seat. While the outline you will see is all about Thanksgiving, the sermon was not.

Again (just to make sure you don't misunderstand me) this sermon may have been uncommon from the Pastor's normal messages. However, if it were any indication of his regular preaching and I were a member of that church I would surely ensure that both he and I had a loving talk about the basics of hermeneutics. We skipped the fellowship meal after service since we were going to spend the rest of the afternoon with my wife's family. Later that day we said our goodbyes to my wife's father and the rest of her family, since we were leaving early the next morning.

That night we made sure we said goodbye to our friends from Fellowship Baptist.

Nov 30th: After staying the night with my wife's best friend, we were all packed and ready to go. It was time to hit the road and leave our beloved home state. We enjoyed every moment of our time back home with family and friends. The opportunity I had to open-air preach three times while there was a blessing. I was so encouraged to see other brothers excited to continue on in the work we had started. My and I both enjoyed showing off our newest addition to everyone. It was great to see the kids having fun with their old friends and enjoying some of the mild weather we had been missing. If the Lord so wills, I pray we will be able to return home in the coming years.

Next blog: Family fun and tracts in Washington DC. Thanks for stopping by.

For His glory,

Pastor Adam

Down home: part 4

2009-12-28T13:23:00.002-05:00

Nov 21-22: The weekend seemed to fly by. We took time to visit more family and friends and enjoying being back home. Sunday morning (22nd) I was scheduled to preach at our old church, Fellowship Baptist Church, and had chosen to preach on "The problem of the complacent Christian" with my primary text being taken from 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8. The sound techs were going to record my message but had some issues with my mic about 10 minutes into the sermon. I had to remove the mic and decided to just use my open-air voice. I pray God was glorified in my humble preaching.

We had lunch with several families from church and had a great time of fellowship with these friends. That evening I came back to give a presentation about what we had been doing in Juneau over the past year. I had put together a slide with some facts about the city, pictures from our street evangelism and open-air preaching, and a video I had put together. You can see that video below.

People had so many questions but I was only able to get to a few because of the time. I was very encouraged after both services by several brothers and sisters. Some wanted to know when we were coming back home. The only reply I could give was "It's in the Lord's hands. He will send us where we are suppose to be". That evening I was able to spend some time with my pastoral mentor and his wife. The first full week of our vacation was over and the next few days seemed to fly by.

Nov 23-24: We spent the next few days relaxing and enjoying more time with family and friends. After the great response of our first street preaching, I let a few others know I was going out to read for Project Ezra on the 25th.

Nov 25: With a fellow brother, Steve Long, accompanying me, I hit the streets of ECity, NC again. We started across from the restaurant again and worked our way back to the same corner we had ended on the Friday before. When we got to the corner I looked down the street and saw a line forming at the movie theatre. JACKPOT! The doors would open in about 20 minutes so I picked up my stuff and we headed to our new location. I planted my preaching stool about 20 feet away from the head of the line and instructed Steve to hand out some tracts to everyone in line. I began open-air preaching and received a mixture of stares. As this was not a common site in my hometown, most people appeared to be paying attention. A few at the beginning of the line showed their signs of approval and encouragement. The line soon began moving inside, some wanting to get in a little more quickly. Praise God for His timing! We finished up the evening with some more Scripture reading. I told Steve I would be back out here one last time on the 27th (the evening of Black Friday).

Nov 26th: THANKSGIVING! My Mamaw (my grandmother on my Dad's side) always hosted Thanksgiving at her house, and it is always a big deal. This year was the biggest in while with almost every one of my aunts, my uncle, my nieces, nephews, cousins, etc. all piling in to their little home. My cousin, Jason Swinson, had been keeping up with my evangelistic efforts on Facebook and had downloaded some of my sermons from my website. Everyone had a great time and it was a blessing to see everyone again.

Nov 27th: My wife and her best friend awoke early to hit the stores for Black Friday, so I stayed home with the our 4 oldest kids. Next year, I really want to use that morning for some open-air preaching to the long lines waiting to get into the stores. The rest of the day was fairly relaxed and that evening I gathered with a few others for my last open-air preaching in ECity before we would leave the following Monday. This time my Dad and one of my aunts decided to accompany us. I was able to record video this time:

I am always humbled when I step up to open-air preach. That God would use such a wretch as me is beyond my comprehension. I thank Him for His mercy and grace. It was a blessed night of preaching and fellowship. Two brothers want to keep the street evangelism going in ECity. I pray the Lord equips and sends others to team up with them to do so.

Stay tuned for the conclusion to Down home. Next blog: leaving NC and our short vacation in DC. Thanks for stopping by!

Soli Deo gloria,
Pastor Adam

Down home part 3

2009-12-20T12:18:00.005-05:00

Friday Nov 20th: My family and I were about to head out to meet up with a handful of brothers and sisters to hit the street of Elizabeth City, NC for the first time for some open-air preaching. I had asked everyone to meet up at the local Dairy Queen where we could grab a quick bite and talk about what we are about to do. In all there were 9 adults who were heading out that night. After reviewing a few things with them and distributing a few handfuls of tracts we started our time in prayer before heading to Waterfront Park. When I was a teen, that was the place all the youth gathered. There was a "strip" we would drive and end up at the park. Being a Friday night I was expecting there to be a good number of them to be out there.

When we showed up at the park it was....completely empty...and it was 6pm. Yep, totally empty save those who had come out with me. In the center of the park was a large pavilion. I gathered our group there and told them we would soon be moving to another location down the street, although I wasn't sure exactly where yet. I went over a few more tips and, since almost all of them had never seen open-air preaching before, gave a short open-air message. My daughter stepped up and wanted to read a chapter of Scripture also. I used both to show how we can boldly step outside our comfort zone to either preach or read directly from God's Word.

I grabbed my preaching stool and the PA and we headed down the street. Only about a block away there was a grassy area where, during the summer, they would hold a farmer's market. Directly across the street was a popular restaurant and just up from us was a small intersection. I picked out the area near a lamppost and started open-air preaching. During that time two brothers who had never done so before stepped up to read from Scripture: Robert Adams and Steve Long. A little while later my wife decided to head out with her friend because it was getting a little too cold for the kids. After walking them to the car I met back up with the group. We began to notice that many people leaving the restaurant were headed down the street and around the corner. We soon found out that there was a play about to start in the theatre nearby. With excitement we grabbed our stuf and headed down the street again. This time on a corner across from the theatre.

We started reading from Scripture as people began to enter the theatre. Again, another brother stepped up to read aloud from Scripture for the first time: my brother-in-law Jeff Barnett. We continued reading from Scripture and handing out tracts for several more hours. In all the group stayed out for a little over 3 hours that night. Just as we were about to wrap everything up two young teens rode by on their bikes. I handed them a tract and was able to witness to them both. Interestingly, one of them had the words "HELLBOUND" on the back of his shirt. Through the proclomation of God's law he discovered that his shirt was correct about both himself and his friend. I pleaded with the two of them to think about what I had said. I asked if either of them had a Bible. The one with wearing the prophetic shirt said he had a small one somewhere. I wanted to make sure he had a Bible readily accessible to him, the only problem was I had not brought any with us...except my own NKJV Bible I had been using for open-air for the past 5 months. The inside of the front page listed numerous verses about Christ's deity which I had used when speaking with local Jehovah's Witnesses here in Juneau, AK. I gladly handed him my Bible and encouraged him to read through the book of John. He promised he would and he and his friend rode away.

It was a wonderful evening with these new open-air preachers. They were all excited and wanted more. As we walked back to the park each of them hit me with questions and wanted to know how they could keep this going. Praise God!

While I had only planned to go out this one evening, in fact, I decided to go out again twice the next week...but that will have to wait for the next blog or two.

Thanks for stopping by!

Soli Deo gloria,

Pastor Adam

Down home: part 2

2009-12-06T20:44:00.003-05:00

Tuesday Nov. 17th: After catching a few hours of sleep at my dad's and a surprise visit from my mom we left to grab some late morning breakfast. My wife's father, sister, and brother-in-law met us along the way and we visited with them for about an hour. For the first week home we stayed on the Coast Guard based in Elizabeth City, NC in one of their rental trailers. It was perfect for us. The first day was a busy one. We wanted to visit as many people as possible but of course were only able to get to a few of them.

Wednesday Nov. 18th: Our home church Fellowship Baptist Church was holding an evening pre-Thanksgiving meal and we were definitely going too attend. That night we were able to fellowship with friends we hadn't seen in over 18 months. It was amazing how much their kids had grown since we saw them last. I, of course, spent little time eating and more time talking. I caught up with a few people and talked to my pastoral mentor, Pastor Joey Hobbs, for a while. I also had some time to talk to one of the people, Steve Long, who was coming out that Friday with me for open-air preaching. It was a blessing to see everyone again.

Thursday Nov. 19th: In Juneau we are very limited to two main stores for shopping...for just about everything. So we decided to spend the day in VA going to some of the stores. My main focus was the nearest Christian bookstore. Knowing me, my wife just dropped me, my daughter, and my son Solomon off and went to another store with the rest of our kids. I scoured the shelves looking to build my library back home. Here's a list of some of what I lugged to the counter:

-John MacArthur's Bible Commentary
-"The Jesus you can't ignore" by John MacArthur
-"Spectacular Sins" by John Piper
-"Crazy Love" by Francis Chan

-"Forgotten God" by Francis Chan

-"Conquer your fear, share your faith" by Ray Comfort
-"Evolution: a fairy tale for grown-ups" by Ray Comfort

I completely crashed that evening after we got back to our place on the Coast Guard base. The first part of that week seems to have flown by but what I experienced the next night was definitely the highlight of the week.

Next blog: First time open-air preaching on the streets of my hometown. Thanks for stopping by!

Soli Deo gloria,
Pastor Adam

Down home: part 1

2009-11-28T07:51:00.007-05:00

For months my wife and I had been planning our family vacation back to our hometown in Elizabeth City, NC. Packing, planning, scheduling, coordinating, more packing, more planning, until finally it was time to leave. For the next 5 blogs I will give you a little taste about what went on during our time back home. If you are familiar to this blog though, you know this will not be a normal story. Along with the trip itself, I had been planning some serious evangelistic outreach during our time home. While here, God gave me the opportunity to open-air preach in downtown ECity three separate times. Here is part 1 of "Down home":

The morning of November 16th was a well orchestrated time of getting out of the house and to the airport. I had stuffed our luggage in the mini-van the night prior and before we knew it we were waiting in line after passing through security. Just when we thought we were ready to board they announced that our flight would be delayed due to mechanical issues...the best reason to delay a flight. We waited and eventually boarded leaving Juneau, AK...almost two hours late. Our original layover in Seattle was only 90 minutes so, doing the math, this meant we would miss our connecting flight. Thankfully, our plane landed in Seattle at the same time our connecting flight was due to take off. Praying and trusting the God we rushed out of the plane with 5 kids in tow and 6 carry-ons. As we entered the airport a man was waiting and asked if we were the Gray family. He pointed us to a gate only a few feet away and we ran down the entryway to our waiting flight. Praise God that they held it and He gave us good tailwinds from Juneau. With our size family we had an entire row to ourselves and passed by other passengers who were patiently waiting for us. Several of our carry-ons had to be placed with the rest of our luggage because of our late arrival so several of the games we had for the kids for our 4.5 hours flight were inaccessable. We originally planned to eat in the airport but had to pick up a few well stocked snack packs on our initial flight knowing that it would be several hours until they served the meal on the connecting flight.

Our flight to Washington, DC went great. The kids were occupied watching a movie on a small media player we rented on the plane. The meal was readily received by all and everyone was able to nap a bit as we landed on time around 1030 pm. Since we use Alaska Air, DC was the closest place to our destination we could get. We had rented a full size SUV and in an hour had our luggage stuffed in were on the road with a little less than 4 hour drive ahead.

The highways were clear with only a few 18 wheelers accompanying us along the way. As soon as we hit the NC border, about 3 hours later, my wife and I let out a little "good to be home" yelp without waking our sleeping tribe. My dad offered his floor for us to crash for a few hours until we picked up the keys for a trailer rented out for us on Coast Guard base in ECity. The hardest part of our trip was done. We had a very busy few weeks ahead, seeing family and friends, showing off our newest edition (whom most had only seen in photos), and getting ready for my first opportunity to open-air preach on the streets of my hometown.

The Lord gave us a safe journey and kept us on schedule. Next blog: our first week home and open-air in ECity. Thanks for stopping by!

In His service,
Pastor Adam

The challenge of evangelism in the winter

2009-11-10T00:06:00.004-05:00

It's November in Juneau, AK. The weather is already turning cold and we have been privy to several mornings of frost and roads with patchy black ice. Soon the snow will find its way down from the mountains onto the ground at our feet. I have been asked how I plan on carrying on with open-air preaching and 1-2-1 evangelism during the winter months. It will be challenging but there are several ideas that I am excited about.

Bus stops
We have a very busy bus system here. Most tend to utilize this during the winter months to avoid the icy road conditions while others do so year round for economical purposes. Bus stops exist throughout Juneau with the more occupied of them located at the malls, Walmart, and Fred Meyers stores. With a good bus schedule I can estimate when the crowds will begin to gather and how long until they are picked up. This presents a great open-airing opportunity and another place for Scripture reading for Project Ezra.

Downtown reading for Project Ezra
I have been regularly going downtown after work on Friday to read a chapter or more for Project Ezra. I have found a great location a Marine Park and have already been visited by a few hecklers.

Carrying the cross at intersection
I have recently constructed a cross with the question "Are you ready" lettering the crossbeam. Like the Prayer Station, this idea is also from Tony Miano. To date I have carried it twice at two of the busier intersections in Juneau. While 1-2-1 witnessing opportunities have been few I know that hundreds have already seen the cross and I pray are thinking about whether they are ready for eternity.

Picketing at Planned Parenthood
Last year a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic came to town. The prolife group Alaskans for Life is out their weekly but only one of their signs mentions God. I have created my own sign with Scripture verses and the www.needGod.com website listed. I am also carrying a hand full of Bibles and tracts to prayerfully be able to minister to anyone going into or working in the clinic.

All of these will still take place outdoors and will require that I, and those who accompany me, pack on a few extra layers of clothing. I am also not sure how well my small PA system will work in freezing temps so I may have to revert to using the ol' pipes again. There is also a great possibility for indoor 1-2-1 evangelism as well.

Prayer stations

We have an agreement with the larger of our two malls here to setup a prayer station. Originally we were going to set it up for the first time in September but have delayed doing so until December. I also borrowed this idea from Tony Miano of Living Waters. These tables will be setup with an identifying banner and offering free Bibles and Gospel tracts. There will be two sign-up sheets on either end for people to list their prayer requests. While they are doing so we will ask them if they would like for us to pray for them right then. A few chairs will be setup behind our table and we will sit down with them taking the time to first share the Law and the Gospel.

Mall fishin'

When we do not have our Prayer Stations setup, we can still frequent the malls, especially when they have special event. We utilized this after our most recent evangelism training when the mall was putting on a craft fair. It was packed and everyone who went out had at least one witnessing encounter and gave out several tracts.

These are just a few ideas that will get us through the summer. I am looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us in the months to come. Thanks for stopping by!

For an audience of One,
Pastor Adam

Reading in the rain...

2009-11-03T01:09:00.002-05:00

Reading 1 Peter for Project Ezra in downtown Juneau, AK at Marine Park. It was a typical rainy day so I set my camera up inside a small ziplock bag. No hecklers this time. Soli Deo Gloria!

My life as a two-time false convert

2009-10-27T18:15:00.002-04:00

To say that I was raised in church would not be entirely accurate. Before I was of school age I remember being picked up by the church van for VBS and attending the same church with my parents but don't recall for how long. Sometime after I turned 5 we moved in with my grandparents. My grandmother, whom I still affectionately call Mamaw, would take me and my sister to church but I don't remember much. Sadly, the only thing I really recall is making a fake ice-cream sundae with cotton balls...go figure.

Throughout my pre-teen years we occasionally visited church, mainly during Easter and Christmas (no surprise there). Sometime shortly after becoming a teen, I remember us beginning to attend church again very regularly. It was the same church my parents had attended when I was just a "wee little lad". The church was an independent fundamental Baptist church and, despite what some may think, was very warm and inviting. It was during this time that my dad found out he needed to have a pancreas and kidney transplant. The atmosphere of our home began to drastically change. We were at church every time the doors were open and, even though it was a very small congregation, became very familiar with everyone there. Whatever the church did, we were involved.

My lack of biblical understanding showed forth one evening at church when we were playing biblical charades. I was given the name "Moses" and started to act it out. I fluttered my hands down to signify rain, rocked back and forth like the ark tossed to and fro, and made hand gestures holding up to fingers to indicate the parade of animals into the ark....did you catch on yet? Noah built the ark, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. People kept shouting "Noah, the ark, the flood" and I just kept nodding my head and could not understand why they couldn't get it. Only after the time was up and I revealed my character did I want to slink underneath one of the pews. Embarrassing? Yes, but funny nonetheless.

My dad was placed on the transplant list as his health continued to decline. Around the age of 14 the Pastor came to our home one evening to talk to the entire family. At the request of my parents he started talking to us about what could happen if dad did not get his transplant in time. I simply sat and listened, oblivious to where this was going. At some point during the conversation myself and my two other siblings were talked to about heaven and hell. After that, all I remember is all of us repeating a prayer the Pastor was leading. I don't know what I said or why I said it. It just seemed right because it was something mom and dad apparently wanted us to do.

A few weeks later our entire family was baptized, my parents were re-baptized for rededication. I had no idea of the meaning or significance of baptism. I just remember all the clapping and rejoicing afterwards. For a few weeks I felt like I should be a little nicer because everyone was calling me a Christian. I started volunteering to wash the dishes and do a few other chores around the house. I remember my parents bragging to the Pastor about me saying how much of a change they had seen and everything I was doing. I had changed my attitude, my response to my parents, and (for a while) how I treated my siblings. But here was the problem: I was still lost and dead in my sins.

Why? Because I didn't know anything about my sin. I thought that saying a prayer to Jesus was just how you get into heaven. It wasn't that I couldn't comprehend my sin, it was that no one every told me about how I had individually sinned against God and how He would judge me and send me to hell for all eternity. I never repented because in my mind, there was nothing I needed to repent of. I didn't trust in Christ because I didn't think I needed to trust Him for something I didn't think I was guilty of. To me, Jesus was presented as something my parents really wanted me to do and my free ticket into heaven.

For those who are reading this and thinking "Yeah, but that's because you were too young" just hold on a minute. You see, I could fully comprehend sin. I knew it was wrong to lie, steal, disobey my parents, and hate others but I didn't care. Jesus was my ticket to keep doing what I wanted and still get to where I wanted. Besides, my parents were Christian so that means I should be too...right? Wrong!

Years later, after my dad's successful transplant, my parents separated. Our home was left in shambles. My mom had moved out and I wanted nothing to do with the rest of my family. I spent more time at my girlfriend's house than at my own. I completely and totally abandoned my brother and sister. My sister eventually befriended my girlfriend's brother and started coming with me, leaving our youngest brother and my dad to an empty house. I can honestly say I hated my life. I couldn't stand how I felt. My school grades were horrible but I didn't care.

I started attending my girlfriend's church but only because she was there. Around my 17th birthday I spoke with the youth Pastor who determined that I needed to be baptized to be saved. I told him I wanted to and it was just one more dunking for me. No repentance, no faith in Christ. I just wanted to be accepted by my girlfriend's family and the other youth I was associating with at the church. False conversion #2 was in the bag. I partook of communion every Sunday and desecrated this holy ordinance in doing so. The next year I graduated high school and moved into a small apartment next to my mom and worked with her boyfriend on a crabbing boat in the Currituck Sound. It was horrible pay for backbreaking work. I decided to join the Coast Guard the following fall and headed off to basic training in December of 1995.

At basic training I met the Roman Catholic chaplain on base and read some material he had given me. To be honest, had I stayed there longer I would likely have had a false conversion #3 but this time into a false religion. For the next two and a half years afterwards I was stationed on a ship out of Portsmouth, VA. This was close enough for me to drive back home and see my girlfriend almost every day, thankfully she broke up with me after about 1 year into my Coast Guard career. I say thankfully because I was a despicable sinner. I will not go into the details, only to say you would not have wanted to associate with me. I could put on a good front for most people, making them think I was just spiffy. But she saw the real me and wanted nothing of it.

My life spiraled downward after that. I took up drinking pretty heavy, taking every opportunity in foreign ports where there was no legal age to get absolutely hammered. Even when I returned back from a patrol I would have others buy alcohol for me. I had moved into government-leased quarters by then and my roommate proved to be a good supplier. Sin after sin I committed with no remorse. I might frequent a Bible study while we were out to sea here or there, but during none of those times did anyone share the Gospel with me.

I fell into a period of depression and found myself drowning it out with more alcohol. There were several times I should not have woken up but by the mercy of God I did. A few times while my ship was out to sea I would sit on the edge of the pier and contemplate falling into the water in my drunken state hoping no one would hear me so I could just end it all. But, if you asked me how I was doing I would cheer right up and say "Just fine".

So what was my problem? Was it my excessive drinking, my depression, my suicidal thoughts? Nope! These were just symptoms of the real problem. You see, I was living a life in total and complete rebellion from God. I would use His name in a blasphemous manner and not give it a second thought. I would lie and steal from my shipmates. I would lust after women. I hated some people on my ship with a passion. I lived only for me. It was all about me. I would call on God when I thought I needed Him. I soon started researching shamanism and New Age thought after finding a pagan bookstore in Key West, FL. For about a year, I was in an extremely dark place.

My dad called me up one week when my ship was in and invited me to come to church with him. I reluctantly accepted and found myself in services that following Sunday. It was the same church with the same Pastor I had been falsely baptized in before. I don't remember much from the first Sunday, just that my dad was happy to see me there.

I came home from the ship one day to find a message on my answering machine. It was the sister of a girl I had worked with over during the summers of 1993 and 1994. They lived a little more than an hour away. I decided to drop in a visit them. I was looking forward to just seeing some familiar and friendly faces for once. Over the next few weeks we became very good friends. I truly believe the Lord was being merciful to me by using her to wake me up to what I was doing to myself and against God. Long story short, I started dating the woman that would soon become my wife.

In the summer of 1998, I again decided to satisfy my dad and attend church with him again. That morning the same Pastor was preaching. As I sat in the pew it seemed like there was no one else there but me. At the end of the service the Pastor asked if anyone would like to speak with him or the Deacon. I raised my hand and was soon sitting in a room with another man, a few years younger than me. The Deacon shared the Gospel with us. My sin was now completely exposed. I saw myself as God saw me: a sinful, wretched, rebellious, human being. It was like a wound I had covered up for so long was now ripped open and exposed to the cold winter air. I was dead in my sins. I did not need someone to lead me in prayer. After hearing of what Christ had done for me, I knew what I needed to do. I repented, pleading with God to forgive me, and turned to the cross of Christ for the atonement of my sins.

Nothing was the same after that. I was soon after baptized, not re-baptized but actually baptized for the first time. Was my life perfect? No! I still fell into sin, but my response to it was not the same. I was usually on guard against it but sometimes let my guard down. When I sinned I felt convicted because I had done so against the Savior, the One who hung on the cross for my sins. Such conviction would drive me to repentance. Remember this: repentance is not a one time issue; it is the ongoing life of the born-again believer.

God has since been progressively sanctifying me through His Son and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. My two false conversions and meaningless baptisms were washed away with my sins. God has created in me a clean heart with new desires.

How about you? None of us are promised even one more breath. Are you ready to stand before God? Here's a short test to see if you are:

Have you ever lied, stolen, lusted, hated, used God's name as a curse word or in a low manner, dishonored your parents? If you have done any of these you have broken God's Law, the Ten Commandments. James 2:10 says that if you are guilty of breaking even one portions of God's Law you are guilty of violating it all. When you die God will judge by His standards; not mine, not yours, not the world's. You will be indebted to Him because you have violated His Law. You will be found guilty and God will punish you. Because of His righteousness He will send you to Hell for all eternity.

That's the bad news; God will judge you and send you to Hell for even one sin. But 2 Peter 3:9 says that it is not the Lord's desire that this should happen. Do you know what God did so that you would not have to spend eternity in Hell? Almost 2000 years ago, God came to earth as Jesus Christ. He was fully God and fully man. He lived a perfect and sinless life and 30 -33 years into His life He died on the cross. What happened that day was a legal transaction. Jesus took on your guilt; He took the penalty and the debt you owe and died in your place. But simply knowing this is not enough. You must repent, that is turn away from your sins. Plead with God to forgive you and trust in what Christ did on the cross for you. This is the only way to be saved from the penalty of your sins. You cannot earn your way to Heaven. All the world religions and cults are WRONG. Jesus said that only He is the way (John 14:6) to be saved.

Please, please...I plead with you, consider yourself in the light of God's Law. See your sins as God sees them and flee to the cross of Christ. He will save you. Please do not be someone who believes that because you said a prayer, went to church, or were baptized, that you are saved. That was me. I had my own morals, my own version of God, and I was lost, dead in my sins. I was headed straight for Hell and I deserved it...I still do. But by God's grace, by Christ paying my fine on the cross, by Him shedding His precious blood, I have been born-again into a life lived for Him alone.

There goes another minute...closer to eternity. Unless you repent you too will perish (Luke 13:3). Repent and trust in Christ today!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Adam

A living example of a man-centered Gospel

2009-10-07T14:41:00.004-04:00

I left work a little early on Friday October 2nd and decided to go downtown to see what was left of my favorite fishin' hole after the tourist season. Unfortunately, I left my tract bag in the van at home so I stuffed my jacket pockets with a few tracts and grabbed a Bible to handout as I started out. Marine Park, which only a month before was bustling with tourists was all but empty except for a few people apparently drunk, one of whom was shouting profanities as someone just passing by. I walked down the pier and handed out a few tracts. Two women I handed a tract to turned out to be Christians who were in town on business and attended a Calvary Chapel in California. We had a few minutes of Christian fellowship and I encouraged them to check out the website on the tract before handing it out themselves.

I changed direction and started heading back to my car walking along the street. I saw two people sitting on a bench enjoying the sunlight; Dillan and Anna. I handed Dillon a million dollar bill tract and tried to hand one to Anna. "I've seen those", she replied. "They talk about Jesus, right?". I conformed her suspicion and she politely refused so I asked her if she knew what the million dollar question is: Do you know what will happen to you when you die? She readily admitted hat she did not know and proceeded to tell me about her life. She was raised in a church but only went because she was told to. She had a Drug addiction in her teen years. The remedy she was fed was that she should come to Jesus and He would make her life all better. She quickly admitted that she tried it and it didn't work.
This is a very important point so pay attention to this.
They used Jesus as life enhancer and temporal problem solver rather than proclaiming Him as Savior. Don't misunderstand me here though; God can and does deliver people from addiction and suffering. But He does so as a result of salvation not in place of it. God creates in the newly born-again person a clean heart with new desires upon repentance and faith in Christ. If what Anna said was truthful, the primary problem was that they used these results as a ploy or marketing tool to try and convince her to "try out Jesus". The result is someone who never comes to saving faith in Christ because they have never been taught the burden of their sins by using the Law and preaching repentance and faith in Christ's atoning work as the only hope of salvation. The result was sitting right there in front of me, dead in her sins and calloused against Christianity.

I continued to take her and her friend, Dillan, through the Law. Neither of them were concerned about their eternal fate. Neither of them were concerned about Hell. Dillan attempted to challenge the validity of Christianity, using some of the same attempts I have heard from others of their generation. After pushing aside these strawmen it was apparent that neither of them were receptive. Anna said they had to go because they were making mac-n-cheese in their apartment just behind them. I thanked them for their time and attempted to give Anna the Bible I had. She refused but Dillan said he would take it and assured me he would read it. I told him to take time that evening and read through the Gospel of John.

I pray the Lord will save both Anna and Dillan. I pray that Dillan will stay true to his promise and read God's Word. As they left I could only think about how many others have been duped by unbiblical evangelistic attempts and as a result have walked away with a even deeper disdain for God. God saves the person, but we must ensure that they way in which we evangelize is biblical. It must be Christ-centered and not man-centered. Failure to do so will ensure that Christian church buildings are full of false converts who know nothing of repentance and will still die in their sins.

Do you know how to share your faith, biblically, the way Jesus did? Check out http://www.wayofthemaster.com/ Thanks for stopping by!

May I descrease that He may increase,
Pastor Adam

Just give me the Bible

2009-09-08T23:42:00.002-04:00

Over a month ago my wife and I were looking for a good Bible for my 7 year-old son, Elijah. She thought she had found a good one on CBD and a few weeks later it arrived at our front door. Not my choice of translations but I thought it would work good as a starter Bible. I decided to thumb through it and quickly looking at the commentary geared towards my son's age. The commentary on Job 40:15 said "Probably a hippopotamus or elephant".

Verse 17 describes this animal as having a "tail like a cedar". Even the most superficial reading of this passage clearly shows it to be nothing like the suggestion of the commentary. With this in mind I decided to turn back to the book of Genesis and found the introductory commentary to be suspect as well. This was enough for me to decide that we should look for another Bible.

Fast-forward a few weeks and a shipment of 30 NKJV Bibles arrived in the mail. These were to be used to give out to people on the street and during a mall outreach coming up this month. The publishers had permitted a 4 page introduction to the Bible which started out strong but turned sour with an unbiblical presentation of the Gospel. Repentance was unmentioned and a "pray this little prayer" followed by false assurance closed this disappointing start. Not wanting anyone to think that salvation lay in reciting a certain mantra I decided to remove this unnecessary insert.

I appreciate the desire to include commentary, but if you can't use biblical hermeneutics just leave it out. I am thankful for the desire to share the Gospel, but if you don't know how to do so biblically just leave it out. Just give me the Bible. It doesn't need your help.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. -Hebrews 4:12

Soaked street preaching and the advantage of rain

2009-08-29T23:36:00.006-04:00

The weather in Juneau has been unusually wonderful this past summer. However, this past Saturday seemed to make up for all the rain we missed in just a few hours.

I sent out the invitation to my church to meet at our regular spot downtown around 1230. I chose this time because a third cruise ship was pulling in @ 1 pm and we would be stationed right where the tourists would be deboarding. The local tourism businesses have a few booths setup there to advertise their tours and a 40 foot long tent cover which stretches in front of them giving the tourists a shelter as they wait for their transports to pick them up.

My normal faithful few showed up shortly after my daughter and I arrived and we positioned my stepstool about 20 feet away from the covering. After a short prayer, I began reading and preaching from Proverbs. Katie Follet, my daughter Savannah, and Robert Follet would follow. The rain wasn't to bad at first but I brought along a small umbrella to keep our Bibles from getting soaked as we read. We held the umbrella for each other during each reading and my portable speaker was safely tucked beneath the stool to keep it dry as well.

By the time Robert finished reading I stepped up one more time to proclaim the Law and the Gospel. Tourists had been walking about through the rain during our readings and only a few had congregated under the tent. As soon as I stepped up it seemed as though the floodgates of heaven opened up and it started pouring down. I put my Bible in my daughter's bag this time so I didn't ask anyone to hold the umbrella for me. Without this protection, I soon found out that my little windbreaker was not a good raincoat.

As the rain began pounding harder and harder with each passing second more tourists flocked to the tent huddling together like baby chickens on a chilly fall night. Soon the covering was full of people listening to a soaked-to-the-bone preacher proclaim to them the cross of Christ. Some turned their backs and tried to drown it out with idle conversation but several appeared to be listening intently.

I no longer noticed the rain. The only thing on my mind was glorifying God by sharing the Truth with these people. I don't remember how long I preached but for a good while I had a captive audience. Juneau is known for being a rain-soaked portion of Alaska and most of the time I see the rain as a damper on plans. But this time, the Lord showed me the advantage of rain. I believe He used it to force some of those people who normally may have run from the preaching of the Gospel to hold their ground...caught between the Rock of salvation and a wet place.

I will never look at a rainy day the same way again. Next time though, I should probably trade my windbreaker in for a real raincoat. Thanks for stopping by.

May the Lamb who was slain recieve the reward for His suffering,
Pastor Adam

Nothing happens by chance

2009-08-16T00:24:00.010-04:00

So the morning of August 15th did not start out the way I planned. I had sent out several emails to four different churches offering a free 4 hour evangelism training. I made sure they understood that this was not an attempt to "steal" members. Some friends posted and handed out a few flyers. However, only a few registered for the training and they had already been through it once. So I decided to change it from a four hour session to a one hour refresher for those who came. Afterwards we all met downtown around 1145 where my wife and kids met up with us.

Before everyone arrived I was able to witness to a young woman named Lana who was a professed atheist. My heart broke when she told me she was only 15. The idea of someone so young already denying God's existence reminded me of the urgency of sharing the Gospel. She was very articulate and well-mannered. She caught herself in several contradictions and for a while it seemed that she was slightly convicted. When it came to God judging her and the penalty of sin being eternity in Hell she seemed to shut down. She quickly admitted she had an issue with pride and said she would just be willing to take her chances when she died. I pleaded with her for some time but it became very apparent that she was not ready for the Good News of the cross. I left pleading again with her to consider her sin and the penalty she would face at death. We soon parted ways and my heart is still hurting over this young lady. As I sit here typing this I pray that God will convict her and bring her to the place of repentance.

When everyone gathered I divided them into two teams of two. I decided my family and I would stay at Marine Park and hand out tracts when the tour buses unloaded. It was great! Only a few people passed by that weren't offered a tract by either myself, my wife Tracy, my daughter Savannah, or my oldest son Elijah. These are memories that I cherish. I soon turned around and saw another cruise ship pulling in right at Marine Park pier. "Thank you Lord", I thought. This was perfect.

Within about 20 minutes the passengers started unloading and we were able to stand at the foot of the brow welcoming people to Juneau and handing out tracts. Soon the two other teams converged back at the park and it was time for some open-air preaching. I was going to start and Katie, her mom Kristi, and my daughter would follow.

I had chosen Ecclesiastes 3 for my Project Ezra reading. This weeks options were to read from either Ecclesiastes, Job, or Song of Songs (Solomon). The crowd from the cruise ship had gathered waiting for tour buses. I turned my stool to face them directly and cranked up my PA system. After reading I expounded upon several verses and presented the Law and the Gospel.

Katie was up next to read. As I handed her the headset mic she just chuckled. Now remember, none of us had told the others what chapter or book we were reading from. Katie then told me that she surprised her mom earlier in the week when she discovered they both chose the same chapter from the same book. Here's the kicker...it was the exact same book and the exact same chapter I had just read. This was not by chance. As a disciple of the risen Savior, I do not believe in chance. Someone, maybe all of them, needed to hear that passage of Scripture that day. I'm sure of it!

Katie read and then my daughter stepped up. She chose Ecclesiastes 6 and read as I stood close by her side. This was only the second time she read the Word publiclly. Again, another memory I will always cherish.

I stepped up one last time to open-air. I was able to engage a young man who turned out to be a Mormon with some trivia questions. This seemed to get more of the growing crowd interested in what we were doing. Out of the corner of my eye and to my right I saw two local police off in the distance taking notice of what we were doing. I did not allow my attention to waiver and continued the open-air. Robert later told me they were thumbing through a small booklet possibly looking for any regulation I might be breaking. After only a few minutes they must have realized I was well within my rights and moved on. Later in the day my wife, who had by then taken my three youngest to the van in the parking garage right beside where we were, told me she heard a few people complaining about what we were doing. This led these people to call the police because they thought what I was doing was illegal. The area I was standing is and always has been public property. I pray these people will not waste the precious time of our dedicated police officers when we show up again next week.

A cruise ship that pulls in just in time for open-air preaching, three disciples who choose the exact same passage of Scripture to read, and a conversation with a young atheist....nothing happens by chance. My God is sovereign. Nothing takes Him by surprise. What we saw happen today was by His design. I know the ultimate purpose was to glorify Him but I may never know this side of Heaven if today was the day of salvation for someone who heard the Gospel. I pray that God saved someone today. I pray that by tract or by verbal proclamation, someone comes to repentance and faith in Christ.

Thanks for stopping by!

Becuase He lives,
Pastor Adam

Meet Vince

2009-08-06T23:31:00.003-04:00

Meet Vince. He is a quiet soul who has been in Juneau for a few months. Vince is not from Juneau. In fact, I don’t really know where Vince is from. I first met him on July 4th while I was downtown with Katie and Kayla Follet street fishin’. He was quietly standing on a corner holding a small 8 ½ x 11 sign that simply read “Jesus Christ is Lord The Son of God Trust and Believe”. A sign reading the same was attached to the bottom of his backpack so as he walked you could read the message whether you were walking to or away from him. Katie asked him a few questions about how he shares his faith and he politely answered her. I asked if we could leave some tracts and a few New Testaments for him to pass out. He accepted the tracts but declined the Bibles because he preferred the King James Version. After that I had seen him regularly walking around with the same sign and later with a larger pro-life sign. One side read “PEACE LOVE LIFE BABIES” and the other side “CELEBRATE! NOT TERMINATE”.

Without the signs most would likely pass right by Vince giving him little or no thought at all. Downtown rests ever so often in the shade of some of the buildings propping his backpack against the wall. He often engages people in conversation never raising his voice above the volume of a casual conversation. The Lord bless me with an opportunity this past Wednesday to talk with Vince.

I was sitting on my preaching stool at the top of the steps near the parking garage in downtown Juneau. I had come alone after work that day with handful of New Testament Bibles, my tract bag, and my portable PA. I had chosen this day for my Project Ezra reading because of the large number of tourists. I found myself sitting on the stool because this was the first time I was about to open-air preach without someone with me. All kinds of doubts and questions started to run through my mind. ‘What if someone comes from behind and you have no fellow believer to warn you? What if someone charges at you? What if, what if, what if?’ My mind was racing. I wondered if I shoudl just pack it up and wait for another day. Why was this so hard?

As I sat there on the edge a shadow passed to my left. It was Vince. He stopped on the steps in front of me just to chat.

“How are you brother,” he asked.

“I’m doing well,” I said trying to hide the tension in my heart.

For what seemed like eternity I fellowshipped with this humble brother in Christ. He told me his goal was to hit every state capital sharing the Gospel and standing against abortion. He gave several testimonies of young women who later told him that they were about to abort their child until they saw his sign. I invited him to come out to Planned Parenthood with us the next day to picket form 11-Noon.

He told me of His love for the Lord and the grace God had shown him. I knew that God had appointed this moment in time. The tension that I felt earlier disappeared. Vince thanked me for the fellowship and quietly excused himself, all the while holding his sign without falter.

I sat there for another moment before standing to adjust my headset mic and turn on the speaker. I read through James 1 and open-air preached for about 9 minutes. During that time one man on a nearby payphone shouted “Shut up or I’m gonna come up there and punch you in the face”. This caught me a little off guard at first, but the fear was gone before it even came. Another lady working a tourism booth asked “Do you have a permit” and then to the crossing guard “Does he have a permit?” I’ve been open-air preaching in the same area near the downtown police station since May with local police officers walking by regularly and have never been asked for a permit. The Lord knew that I needed encouragement. He knew that my two hecklers would throw me off but he sent Vince to strengthen me.

I concluded my preaching and grabbed my things to head back to the car. No angry fists-of-fury man nor permit-questioning-tourism workers followed. When I got back to the car I thanked the Lord for the encouragement he had sent my way. There are few times in open-air preaching and witnessing where these moments come along.

Who am I that my Savior would sustain me? Who am I that the gracious God of mercy would send a fellow servant to remind me of my place in His kingdom? Oh that the Lord might use my feeble lips to bring forth His word. That He might see fit to use so a wretch as I. May the Almighty God receive honor and glory for it all. May I decrease that He might increase.

For an audience of One,
Pastor Adam

Putting my new PA system to use

2009-07-22T23:50:00.007-04:00

About a week ago I decided to look for a good portable PA system that I could use for open-air preaching. I was able to find a 25 watt system with a wireless headphone and lapel mic for a great price. It comes with a carrying case which conveniently hangs from a strap over my shoulder. I couldn't wait to use it.

Earlier in the week I had contacted the Follet family to invite them to meet us downtown so we could all read as a part of Project Ezra and for some open-air preaching. Several of them were excited, maybe more than me, about the PA system and couldn't wait to see how it worked. Around 5 pm we all met up at Marine Park. I stood atop a higher point at the park and opened reading from Galatians 3 and was met with someone screaming just outside of my peripheral view. There were several people at the park one of whom was a lady who began playing her guitar as I preached. I couldn't hear what she was playing but found out later that she definitely did not agree with what the Bible had to say about Hell or God for that matter. After I concluded Katie Follet stepped up to read, followed by her mom Kristi. Kristi's husband Robert was about to step up when Savannah, my 9 year old daughter, came up to me and asked if she could read. God had saved her about 2 years ago and she had been showing fruits of repentance. She had asked a few days ealier to read but I was honestly hesitant. I had talked with her a few times before to ensure that she fully understood. I felt that she was ready and helped her pick out 1 Corinthians 2 to read.

She boldly stood up as I adjusted the headset mic for her. She read right through the chapter with no fear and no hecklers. I mean come on...I think even the worst heckler wouldn't dare take on a little girl. They would probably have the entire park against them at that point. Here's the video:

It is such a blessing for me to see her growing in Christ. I pray that such zeal will continue to manifest itself in her obedience to the Lord. Robert finished out our 5 person reading group and I concluded our time at the park by asking anyone who disagreed to step up and tell us why. A few people chimed in but none were willing to take it much further than "You're interrupting my nap". Katie and my daughter tried to hand out a few million dollar bills an one lady just ripped it up saying "I don't believe in Hell". I tried to engage her during the ending open-air but she just turned her back.

One thing I experienced during that part of the day was more encouragement than I had ever seen before. One man and his wife approached Katie handing her $20. He asked her to tell me that they both appreciated us being out their and proclaiming the Gospel and wanted us to use the money to continue doing so. Another young man who was sitting off to the side with a video camera stopped me and also thanked us for "Bringing the Truth". He couldn't stay to talk so he just shook my hand and was gone. One gentleman grabbed me just as we finished up and thanked me for the preaching saying "I needed to hear that". Again, he wasn't able to talk much further but I pray God was doing a work in his heart.

We packed everything up and headed over to a set of steps near the downtown parking garage where many of the cruise ship tourists passed by. We had wanted to try something for a few weeks to gather a crowd and had the perfect opportunity. Katie grabbed a sheet from her bag and laid down on the ground covering herself but leaving her feet dangling out at the end. After a few minutes several people were gathered around just staring at her. When it seemed we had their attention I started preaching from atop my stool at the top of the steps. Several people stopped and appeared to listen. One older lady walked up the steps by me saying "Amen, amen". Off in the distance I heard the sirens of an ambulance and firetruck. Kristi was trying to get my attention and I believed she was trying to point the sound out to me. I figured "Great, I can use this as a springboard also". I later found out though that she was afraid someone had called the ambulance because they saw Katie laying on the ground covered with the sheet. However, they just drove by. It would have been interesting though to try and explain to them what we were doing and why they didn't need to check Katie for her vitals.

It was a great time of fellowship and proclaiming the Truth. I pray that the Lord was at work in the hearts of all who heard the Law and the Gospel. Thanks for stopping by!

Forever in His service,
Pastor Adam

Project Ezra Mission Juneau: week 1

2009-07-19T02:10:00.010-04:00

For Project Ezra this week I had a few members of my church who wanted read a chapter from one of the Gospels. Kristi and her youngest daughter Kaite asked me earlier in the week if I could think of a public place close to where they live, just down the street from my family and I, in the valley. I suggested either the rotary park or bus stop at one of the malls. They chose the bus stop in front of Mendenhall Mall, a great place where a good number of people gather. Here are some highlights from Katie herself (my emphasis added):

"On Friday around 1130am, my mom and I went to the Mendenhall Mall parking lot in hopes of reading and open-airing to the crowds heading out/coming in on the bus. When we arrived, there were about 6 people waiting at the bus stop so I set up our folding stool for my mom (this was her first time on the box!) while she found the chapter that she wanted to read. My mom started reading and a few minutes into the chapter a car stopped right in front of her and rolled down the window to hear her. After listening for a minute the man noticed that cars were about to pile up behind him so he drove away. My mother continued reading and later when I mentioned it to her, she said that she hadn't even seen it. There was one man across the street at the bus stop that was not thrilled with what she was doing though and put headphones on to trying to block out her voice. I don't think that it blocked out the 'noise' completely because soon after he did he yelled to her 'Did God send you here to do this to me?' She looked up at thim and then finished her chapter. After she was done she went over to the bus stop and passed out million dollar bills to all of the people and I used this as a springboard to open-air. During my O.A. session, after I asked the 'million dollar question' the same man that spoke to my mom while she was reading responded to the question and said that he used to go to church very frequently but stopped because no one could 'show him God' I got the opportunity (only by God's grace) to speak to him some before he had to catch his bus which was slightly late. I read the majority of Matthew 5 afterwards but the bus came and mom recommended that I stop. I also had the opportunity to O.A. one last time before we left."

Way to go Katie and Krisit!

That night I met Katie's dad, Robert, downtown. The plan was for me to read from John 1 and Robert to read from Luke 19 with me following-up with some open-air preaching after both. One of the cruise ships was boarding right when we got to the pier. As the line is usually slow moving to get on board I found a bench about 20 feet from their brow and started. I estimate that there were about 50+ people who were able to hear John 1 and the presentation of the Law and the Gospel. I need to keep this tactic in mind next time I head downtown. I already have a listing of the ships with their arrival and departure times and I can just use their boarding times as I did this past Friday.

After I concluded Robert and I decided to move just up the pier a little for his reading. I did not bring my preaching stool from my car but figured we would not need it since I stood on a bench earlier and Robert would be standing at the top of some stairs. However, I soon found out why I should keep it handy regardless of where I am.

Several people were crossing the street and passing by in that area. After he concluded I stepped up again to preach open-air. As I was concluding with the Law I saw an older woman coming from behind me and to the left. I turned to address her and found that she was only there to argue.

"Do you believe in baptism for the remission of sins," she asked. I knew exactly where this was going. She was from the Church of Christ denomination which some, but not all, hold onto the dogma of baptismal regeneration. That is, that baptism is the way one gets forgiven of one's sins. I attended a Church of Christ during my latter teen years, as a false convert, and even went through 4 semesters at Bible college headed by this denomination, as a born-again believer. I am fully aware of what they believe and teach so nothing she told me was new.

I tried to turn back to preaching but let her keep my attention to long. Her husband soon joined her and started shaking his "righteous finger" at me demanding that I was wrong. I told them both that they were hindering the proclomation of the Gospel but they were more intent on promoting their dogma than the Truth. I was a bit frazzled, not because of what they said but because they knowingly were hindering the presentation of the Gospel.

However, I learned several very important lessons from them:

1) Always, ALWAYS have my step stool handy so I am elevated above those who would attempt to interupt. Even if I'm on a set of steps I still need to be in a position slightly above anyone else who might be on the same step as me.

2) Never let one person, or two, divert me from open-air preaching....period!

3) Equip those who come with me to help divert some of these non-hecklers. Leave my hecklers alone though! I want hecklers, but I don't want fellow believers who just want to argue with me.

I'm looking forward to this week's reading in Project Ezra. Thanks for stopping by and God bless!

Proclaim the Word,
Pastor Adam

Tracts: the good, the bad, and the downright ugly (part 3)

2009-07-13T20:53:00.002-04:00

If you have not read the first blog please do so before continuing.

The third tract I mistakenly called the "Candle Tract". When you fold the tract into a small rectangular box it seemed apparent that this is meant to be given out with a candle inside as a gift. On closer inspection though, the box states that it is used to house a light bulb.

On the front side of this upright box is a picture of a lighthouse. Inside of the beam of light you can make out several faces. At the bottom of this picture is the John 8:12. If you turn the box counter-clockwise there is a blank panel to stamp the church's information. The next panel is a short paragraph with the title "LOOKIN' FOR LIGHT?" and continues explaining that Jesus is the Light in this darkened world. While the paragraph could have done a better job explaining why the world is "dark" it actually was pretty good. The bottom of this panel says that this is an outreach tool of NAMB, funded by the Cooperative Program and Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.

The final panel holds the attempted presentation of the Gospel. It is broken up and numbered into five short sentences. The first sentence is a reiteration of the theme of the front panel. The second sentence says "The darkness of sin has separated you from Him (see Romans 3:23)". This is a great verse but it fails to understand the presentation of the previous chapters. Romans 1-2 takes the reader to the Law to identify specific sins. Without identifying what sin is, anyone who picks up this box tract will have no idea. I have said this many times before, you MUST take someone to God's righteous standard so that they may see themselves in the light of His law. Simply saying, "You're a sinner" assumes that everyone knows and acknowledges that. This is a bad byproduct of the modern-day Gospel which glosses over the bad news in order to rush the lost sinner to the Good News. But the Good News only seems good in light of the bad.

The next sentence speaks of confessing and turning from sin. If I could pluck this sentence out and precede it with a clearer understanding of sin it would work great. The fourth sentence harkens back the box tracts theme: "You can have the Light (Jesus) come into your life. The switch is called faith (see Ephesians 2:8-9)". I think they have completely beat this horse to death. Amidst this bad analogy though it does talk about faith which flows right into the fifth sentence telling the reader to place their "faith and trust in Jesus". It appeared that there was some good mixed with some not-so-good but it all fell flat at the end.

"If this sounds like something you would like to have in your life, pray the following prayer, and place your faith and trust in Jesus". NNNOOOO! Not the pray-this-little-prayer bit again! I am ashamed to say this is one of the most common themes among us Southern Baptists. We hold to the "sinner's prayer" like it were the only way to end a witnessing encounter. We are too locked into getting a decision, getting a number, adding that decision to other numbers to show how well this works. Ugh!

Do not think that I am mercilessly poking at all who have held to this, I too believed in leading someone through this prayer at one time also. I was taught that this was the way we've always done and this was the only way it should be done. The sinner doesn't know what to say so we just have them repeat after us. But think of it like this:

If a man were caught in adultery and wanted to seek his wife's forgiveness would you write out a letter of apology and have him read it verbatim to his wife? Of course not! Once he knows what he has done and that he needs her forgiveness he need to go to her and use his words to plead for her to take him back. The reason some hold to this prayer is because they have left out the Law in their evangelism. At this point in the witnessing encounter the sinner has no idea of what they need to be forgiven of. They have only been told "You are a sinner and God will forgive you. Now pray this...". When someone sees the vile reality of their sin, the penalty of it in Hell, and the grace offered by Christ they know what they need to be forgiven of and why.
Too many false converts have clung to this little prayer as the magic incantation that keeps them out of Hell. A prayer does not save you from eternal judgment only the mercy and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ can save.

Okay...I'll step off my box again (for now). Again, like before, I would never use this tract because of its sorry attempt at sharing the Gospel. This was another shameful example of what has happened to the presentation of the Gospel today. Many have watered down its presentation and will continue to do so until it is almost unrecognizable.

Let's get back to the way Jesus did it. Law to the proud, grace to the humble. Go share your faith...eternity is only a heartbeat away. Thanks for stopping by!

Until the Lord calls me home,
Pastor Adam

Tracts: the good, the bad, and the downright ugly (part 2)

2009-07-07T15:12:00.001-04:00

(Make sure you read the first installment of this blog first.)

I previously planned on presenting the three “really ugly” tracts in this one blog. But after further review of each one I think an individual blog would be more appropriate…and shorter!

The next tract I looked over was titled “HeartTalk”. The cover is a basic white with a plaster-type texture background and the title in red letters. The inside cover says this is a part of something from the NAMB called “HeartCall Evangelism”. I’m not critiquing this evangelistic approach itself, which will wait for another day, but I do want to address what I saw as some serious problems in this tract.

The tract starts out with a four step process for salvation. The first of these is HOPE in Him (Christ). The first line reads “God has some things He’d like for you to know from His heart” and continues “God has great plans for you”. Uh-oh! I already knew where this was going. Would this tract talk about the promised persecution coming for all who professed Christ? Let’s see.

The next page had a line that just jumped right out at me: “And when you find Him, you find hope”. This is a biblically inaccurate approach from the start. Jesus is not the cure for all your worldly sorrow; He is the Savior for your eternal soul. Whenever we use a fruit as an attraction to the Gospel we fail to truly present the Gospel. Think of it like using a carrot to detract a horse from falling off a cliff. Sure they may wander away in time to taste the carrot but when it’s gone, or other troubles come, they will steer right back to the cliff because they were not told of the impending danger beforehand. Does God bring hope? Yes…hope for all who repent and trust in Christ for salvation from their sins. Does this tract address sins? Yes, but not really.

A rhetorical question is posed: “Why don’t I feel God listens to me?” First, this is a horrible starting point. Second, the response was even worse: “…wrongdoings separate people from God”. What? What is a wrongdoing? But wait, a few sentences later they actually use the word sin. But what do you mean by sin? What sin has this reader committed that “separate” them from God. The reader is only told that they have sin but have no idea what sin really is or what sins they are guilty of. What followed was a fairly pitiful attempt at presenting salvation.

The second step says to BELIEVE. Do you need to believe in Christ? Absolutely!!! They say “believe God sent Jesus to die on the cross for you…He will wipe your sins away.” What sins? Again, the assumption here is that everyone knows what sin is. If you do not (listen carefully here) use the Law as a schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24) to show the sinner their sin you are failing to show how offensive sin really is to God.

The next step says to TURN to Him. This is a little better. They didn’t use the word repentance but it was at least a little better than what I had read up to this point. But, what sins are they turning from? I probably sound like a broken record by now but that’s because it is a reoccurring problem in this and many other evangelistic attempts.

Finally, they quote from Romans 10 to emphasize they need to CALL on Him as Lord. I actually had hope…not from the first step though…that this tract was actually getting somewhere. However, it pretty much ends right here with a review of the four steps. As most SBC resources, it lays out a prayer but attaches the four steps to each of its sections. There is a page for you to sign noting the date you “made a decision” and have someone sign as a witness. It follows with advice as to what this “new believer” should do next. Except for the first point, sharing HeartTalk with others, these are actually fairly helpful: find a Bible-believing church, pray daily, and read their Bible daily.

Overall, this was a really bad presentation of the Gospel. It treated Jesus as a cure for all your worldly woes, failed to reveal what sin is, and failed to show how much an offense sin is to God. There was also no mention of Hell, but this was not surprising seeing that sin was pushed aside as little more than a hindrance to a happy life.

In case you haven’t deduced already, I would not use this tract. It confuses sin and does not give a biblical presentation of how to share salvation in Christ.

Next installment: the gift candle tract!?! Thanks for stopping by.

For the glory of the risen Lord,
Pastor Adam

1 John and fishin' on the 4th

2009-07-05T19:12:00.003-04:00

Here in Juneau the 4th of July fireworks take place at midnight...which means you have to leave the house on the 3rd (around 10 pm) to see them. This makes for a late night and very tired children, but we promised them we would take them out this year. Because of the traffic we did not get back home until around 1:45 am.

I was up around 8 am to get ready for the day. As a part of Project Ezra I was planning to read aloud from 1 John for the 4th. I had lined up other faithful street soldiers to read with me. IThe plan was for me to read through the first chapter and the others would read whichever chapter they had decided on. I packed my bag with tracts, my open-air Bible, my audio recorder, and camera. My wife was getting breakfast ready and before I knew it we were headed out the door.

We drove separately because I had planned to stay out all afternoon witnessing and knew my littles ones would need to get home for a nap. We found great spots in the downtown parking garage and walked over to Marine Park where we would watch the parade. Not only did we find a great place to sit but it was also a great place to read aloud through 1 John. However, there was a small group of drunks not to far away. The police addressed them and removed 4-5 empty bottles of hard liquor. The officers were stationed just across the street from us so we were not concerned from that point on.

The crowd started to gather and the sidewalks and park were soon filled. The parade was one of the longest ones I had ever seen; almost 2 hours. The kids enjoyed grabbing the candy and waving at all the participants. One passer-by from a local Christian radio station handed me a tract...a Living Waters IQ tract. That was awesome! I wished I could have gotten in touch with him but the parade kept moving along.

I looked down the road and saw the street sweepers coming. This meant the end was just in front of them. I motioned to my team to head to the small hill my family and I had been sitting on. Initially it was only going to be me, Kayla, Katie, and Nathaniel, leaving chapter 5 open for reading. But Robert, Kayla and Katie's dad, was convicted and resisted his fears to read chapter 5.

I started once the sound of the sweepers subsided. Immediately, people started yelling profanities and screaming at me to shut up! Suprisingly though, these were the sober ones. They only stayed for about 30 seconds or so though. Another group decided it was time for them to leave right after the first verse. As I wrapped up chapter 1, Katie stepped up. I went to the bottom of the hill to record the rest and noticed there were still several people waiting around. Once Katie finished she met me at the bottom of the hill as her sister continued. Then Nathaniel and finally Robert closed out the reading.

With a good number of people still around I began to open-air preach expounding upon a few things from 1 John. During the open-air a man with a video camera walked by recording me. He then appeared just behind me and held his camera abotu 4 feet on the ground angled up towards me. He only stayed for a few minutes but I pray he stay long enough to hear the Law and the Gospel. One women applauded as I closed and afterwards Robert told me that there were several people who looked to be listening intently. There was also large group sitting at some tables at an outdoor restaurant only 40 feet from us and another group about 30 feet away waiting for trips on the seaplane.

My wife took our kids home and left me with a yummy PB&J to tide me over. Robert and his wife decided to take their two younger boys home since they too were getting tired. Nathaniel needed to meet his family so I thanked him for coming out before he left. This left me with Kayla and Katie. For the next three and a half hours we canvased all of downtown. I left a box full of tracts in my car for us to restock if needed.

Only a few people refused tracts and we had numerous opportunites to share the Law and the Gospel. We were also able to encourage two other believers in sharing their faith. One man was named Vince who held a small sign pleading with people to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We encouraged him to use the Law in his efforts and left him with several tracts to hand out.

Towards the end of the day downtown was beginning to thin out so we headed to the Glacier visitor center where we knew tourists were sure to still be. Sure enough, several buses had just dropped them off. A large number of them looked to be heading for the waterfall. As we headed down the trail Katie and Kayla were faithful as they continued to hand out their tracts. At the waterfall we were able to hand out several more.

Back at the visitor's center a long awning housed some of the tourists waiting for their bus...a perfect place to hand out a large number of tracts in a short amount of time.

It was just after 6 pm and we were about to head out when I saw a group pf 5 teens. I wanted to give them the few Million Dollar bill tracts I had in my hand. These tracts always make a great intro into a witnessing encounter. " Do you know what the Million Dollar questions is? Do you know if you'll go to heaven when you die?" This is printed on the back of the tract as well. What followed was a true blessing. We spent time witnessing to these four young women and one young man. As I took them through the Law it was very apparent that they were concerned that they would spent eternity in Hell for violating God's standards. I was then able to share the Gospel with all of them. We left pleading with them to consider what they had heard. They each, in mucher somber tones than before, said they would. I pray that the Holy Spirit was working in their hearts.

It was a wonderful day in service to the Savior. I trust that God will do a work in those whom He convicts. That they will look to His cross for salvation from the penalty of sin. May He be praised for all that we do. For it is only by Him that we are able and it is ultimately for Him that we go. Thanks for stopping by!

For Him who is worthy of all praise,
Pastor Adam

Tracts: the good, the okay, and the downright ugly (part 1)

2009-06-30T13:39:00.000-04:00

I recently found some older tracts at my church when I was looking through a filing cabinet. I grabbed four examples to look over as I headed home. Three are distributed by North American Mission Board (NAMB) and the fourth by the Home Mission Board (HMB). As my church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention most of the older tracts they once used are directly from our convention.

I had high hopes that each of these would give a clear Law and Gospel presentation. Unfortunately, this was not so. There were no dates on any of these but none of them looked older than 10-12 years. Out of each of these I could only find one that I would put in the “okay” category. Even though I don’t have the gift of putting the best spin on things I’ll give it a try by highlighting this tract first.

The title on the front is “How to live forever” and has a dove flying through a beam of light with a brown and tan background. The opening question is pretty basic: “Do you know for certain that you have eternal life and that you will go to heaven when you die?” This isn’t too bad of an opener but I might have suggested leaving out Heaven in the sentence since there is no mention of Hell either. The next page was really not needed though. “God’s purpose is that we have eternal life” somewhat pings off the previous question and gives a few verses to support (John 10:10, 14:3). But right in the middle of this is the sentence “We can live a full and meaningful life right now”. Oh, it was actually okay up until that point. Salvation should never be about life enhancement. I think this is often used as a “carrot” to get the horse to move a little bit forward so we can try and get them to the trough.

But, one bad sentence aside, it then jumps right into the issue of sin. This is a great step but it needed specification of what is considered sin. This is best done by taking the individual to the Law, which as James 1:23-25 is the mirror in which we can see how we truly are. Let the Law show them their state and not just simply doing a drive-by glance at sin. The next few pages also had some hope for the biblical method of sharing the Gospel. It goes on to explain the deity of Jesus, His death, and resurrection. What would have been helpful to see here though would have been a better explanation of what Christ’s death on the cross meant in regards to our sin.

Repentance is explained, faith and trust in Christ is explained, and some good follow-up questions are presented. The reader is given a model of what a prayer of repentance can look like. I would only have an issue with this if it said “Pray this prayer” as though it were those specific words were only way to express true repentance to God.

There is some good advice on the last few pages about finding a church, reading your Bible daily, prayers, and sharing your faith. The very last page warns the person that if they have recently come to Christ for salvation that Satan has now become their enemy and will attempt to deter them from growing.

Overall, this tract goes in the “okay” category for the following reasons:
-sin is not specified
=Imagine telling someone “You’re sick, drink this”.
-Hell is not identified

I personally would not use this tract because there are a large number of tracts out there that supersede this in the presentation of the Gospel and the use of the Law. In the next blog I will go through the other three tracts, each of which are in the “downright ugly” category. One of them, though, is one of worst I’ve seen.

Thanks for stopping by!

Until He calls me home,
Pastor Adam

Logo winner

2009-06-20T23:03:00.004-04:00

Thanks to everyone who submitted a logo. It was a close call between two of them but the winner of the contest is....Katie Follet of Juneau, AK. Below is a copy of her winning submission:
I have also decided to officially change the name of this blog to coincide with the new logo.

I am slowly catching up after a busy week at VBS. I will be posting a later blog with a few pictures. Stay tuned!

For His glory,
Pastor Adam

Logo contest...ends this Friday

2009-06-16T15:44:00.002-04:00

My logo contest ends this Friday. If you have not already done so please email your submissions to adam@doulostheou.com

I already have several submissions. The winner will be announced in the following week. For more information about the contest please check out the corresponding blog.

For the glory of Christ,
Pastor Adam

Servant ponderings...

2009-06-14T12:39:00.003-04:00

If you fail to correct those who pervert the Gospel you show you care nothing for their eternal souls and worse that you care nothing for the Savior who redeemed your own soul.

False fish and deceived drivers

2009-06-09T20:19:00.007-04:00

Now, let me preface this blog by saying that I am not condemning any fellow brother or sister in Christ who has a Christian fish symbol on their vehicle, in their home, on their Bible cover, etc. I have nothing against the use of this symbol as it carries with it sincere representation of early Christianity. But I have personally decided to no longer “decorate” either of my vehicles with them for the reasons you will find in the remainder of this blog.

For some time I have considered the implications of having a simple Christian fish on the back of vehicles. What does this symbol really say other than “Look what I bought”? Some vehicles have engaged in what the some have coined as “fish wars”. These variations range from ridiculous to outright blasphemous. The expression of the drivers in these vehicles is one of outright rebellion and mockery. Fortunately though, most do not take these twisted versions seriously. But what about those vehicles that have the actual Christian fish symbol?

What happens when someone sees a vehicle with this on its bumper cut someone off in traffic, shouting curses to another driver, or portraying a life that is in any other way contrary to the walk the Lord commands of His children? This past Saturday as my family and I were out and about I saw such a vehicle parked at the mall. Below is a picture of the back of said vehicle. If you can make it out you will note that I had to block out some the language displayed on this vehicle, but don’t overlook the fish symbol on the right side of the photo:

Here’s the problem I see, in the western post-Christian culture it means little to call oneself a Christian or even stick a little plastic emblem right beside a bumper sticker that stands in stark contrast to its neighbor. These are the people the world points to when they mock the Savior. These lifestyles are what cause the name of the Lord to be blasphemed among the Gentiles (Romans 2:24).

Let me be brutally honest, I was one of these people, a false convert who professed Christ not with an emblem but with my words…and only my words. I said a little prayer one Sunday morning when I was a young teen never really being sorrowful for my sins and repenting before the righteous Judge. I never looked in faith to the Savior who bore the penalty for my sin on that cross. I was worse than what you see in that picture. I blasphemed God with my actions and my mouth living a life of wretched sin.

It was only when I saw myself as God saw me that I felt the crushing weight of the Law. I had lied, I had lusted, I had stolen, I had blasphemed the Lord’s name, I had dishonored my parents, I had hated others, and I had created a false idea of God in my mind who would allow me to do these things. I knew I was guilty before God. I knew that when I died He would judge me and send me to Hell. I knew that even one lie was enough for me to be sent to Hell. But the God whom I had sinned against became a man, Jesus Christ, and came to earth. He willingly went to the cross to pay for the punishment of my sins. It was much more than physical brutality, He took the spiritual weight of my sins upon Himself. Did you get that? He bore the total wrath and penalty of everything I had done upon Himself. I looked to my Savior and cried out for His forgiveness and turned away from my sinful life as I placed my faith in Christ.

So how about you? Do you just wear a cross around your neck or decorate your car with Christian imagery yet live an active life of rebellious sin against God? 1 John 3:4-9 clearly tells us that if you keep on sinning, living a life of sin, you are not of God. That is, you are not born-again. You are living a lie and no emblems, symbols, good works, or verbal expressions will save you. Repent of you sins. Plead with God to forgive you and turn from your life of sin to faith in Christ. Today is the day of repentance.

-Pastor Adam

Evangelism...a spiritual gift?

2009-06-03T14:06:00.003-04:00

The question often comes up when talking to a fellow brother or sister in Christ about the “spiritual gift” of evangelism. In fact, this past Sunday one of the young women in the teens Sunday School caught something in her quarterly concerning this topic. They were discussing the Deacon Phillip and his encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch. Both her and her sister rightly noted that their quarterly said Phillip had the gift of evangelism. Now let me first say I was thrilled that they noticed this and brought it up in class.

Confusion over this normally stems from Ephesians 4:11 “It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers”. One must first understand that this passage is not referring to spiritual gifts. Yes, prophecy and teaching are spiritual gifts but this passage is referring to positions Christ commissioned in the local church. It does not read “…some to have the gift of prophecy, some to have the gift of evangelism, and some to have the gift of pastoring and teaching.” Were evangelism a gift given to only certain believers then this would be in contradiction of the clear teachings of Scripture that ALL believers are commanded to go and proclaim the Gospel.

Once one understands that an evangelist is a position the question arises concerning his relation to the local church? There is some good discussion on this but I believe looking at the surrounding text of Ephesians 4 clears that up fairly well. Verses 12 and 13 say that these positions are “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”. Literally, these positions are there to equip the rest of the believers to fulfill the work which God has given them here on earth until He calls each of us home or returns in wondrous glory.

The evangelist then is part of the leadership of the church which works diligently to train others to glorify God in their service. He is not the only person, or at least should not be, who openly and verbally shares the Gospel. I believe there are those sincere believers out there that equate the evangelist to a revivalist and nothing more. While this should not be an area of contention for anyone, I personally do not believe that is the role explained in this passage. The main point here is that the reference in Ephesians is to a position not a spiritual gift.

What has become evident is that many use this as an excuse not to share the Gospel. “I’m not equipped”, “I don’t have the gift of…”, or “That’s just not was God has called me to do” are nothing more than attempts to ignore the clear command of Scripture to proclaim Christ to the lost and dying world (Matthew 28:19,20; Acts 1:8).

Not equipped? Read your Bible and get equipped. I recommend looking at Way of the Master as a great reference as to how to biblically share the Gospel. Don’t have the gift? If you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit then you are gifted by the grace of God to go forth! Not what God called you to do? You’re right, He commands you to do it. Scared? Join the club. Sharing your faith is nerve racking but above all things, it is God honoring.

So what are you waiting for? Get out there and share your faith. As Ray Comfort says, “There goes another minute. Get out there and share your faith while you still have time.”

For the glory of God alone,
Pastor Adam

Does the "roaring lion" just pass you by?

2009-05-27T22:34:00.015-04:00

In 1 Peter 5:8 Satan is described as a "roaring lion" who "walks about...seeking someone he may devour". When I read this verse I am often reminded of the blogs, videos, audios, and other testimonies of fellow believers who take to the street to proclaim the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. Time and time again I see how they are mocked and screamed at for simply loving the lost enough to warn them of the eternal punishment to come. Were they a Doctor shouting out that they held in their hand the cure for cancer, the world would welcome them with open arms. While I have not experienced even half of what others such as Ray Comfort and Tony Miano have, I also have heard the mockings and warnings of some who would rather blaspheme God than hear His Word.

Unfortunately, for a good number of Christians this is something they will never experience. You see, I believe the world is perfectly content with a majority of believers. They have made an unspoken pact with some that if they will simply keep their faith within the walls of their local church then they will "tolerate" them. Likewise, Satan is perfectly content with the Christian who does nothing outside of his/her Sunday morning attendance. He has no problem with them. You see, he knows that nothing can pull them out of the Father's hand because they are redeemed by the incorruptible blood of the Lamb. He is not trying to "win them back" because this is biblically impossible. Just as the world, he has no issue with them as long as they only reserve their faith to an hour or two a week.

These believers pose no threat to the sinful workings of this world. They are willing to remain silent as 150,000 people dies every day, with the majority of them bound for Hell. They say they love the lost but only show it if the lost happen to darken the doorway of their church. The "roaring lion" does not seek to devour these believers. He is more than willing to just pass them by. They do not need to be silenced by his threats because they have already reserved themselves to silence hoping that he would pass them by. Here's a list of a few ways to make ensure the "roaring lion" passes you by:

1) Keep your faith a "private matter".
2) Do not even think about passing out a Gospel tract.
3) Do not seek out the lost, only invite them to church and leave it up to the Pastor to finish what you started.
4) Do not openly, verbally, and biblically share your faith with a perfect stranger.
5) Quote Scripture but don't actual apply it.
6) When you are around others who may not be Christian, make sure you speak in a quiet voice when mentioning the things of God. You wouldn't want them to actually hear you.

If you don't poke your head up out of the tall Sahara grass the lion will simply move to a more available target. He will seek out those who stand tall in the fields above the safety of hiding in the grass and boldly proclaim the Word of the Lord. But he will have no effect on even them because of the promise given in 1 John 4:4 "He who is in you is great than he who is in the world". Satan will roar and try to tear them to pieces but God will strengthen His children to endure until the end.

May God bless and secure those who stand for the faith in all parts of this fallen world. May His blessed Word go forth and accomplish all that He wills.

Preaching for an audience of One,
Pastor Adam