First Time Open-Air- and after

Hello!Please pray for me. I am open-air preaching for the first time this Saturday night. I have been going down to a place in Fayetteville, Arkansas called Dickson Street. Dickson Street is filled with bars and clubs. A few of us from my church have been going down there faithfully for about 2 months. God has been moving on me to open-air preach. This Saturday there is a college football game in Fayetteville and Dickson Street will be packed with people. I'm very excited about it!!

God bless, brother, be filled with the Holy Spirit!

Hi Joshyea i will pray for you bro! awesome, you're going out in the open! makes me remember what you've placed on your xanga long time ago ;-)He is with you bro! be blessed!in His love!William

Hi PreachParsley...!This is soooooo exciting! I pray that God will use you to "break up the fallowed ground" in the hearts of those who hear your voice. Please share with us your feelings and experiences afterward. I am certain that many in this SermonIndex fellowship will be praying for you and those to whom you are sent. Be strong and of good courage! :-) Joshua 1:9

Glory to God! Tell us how it goes.

This weekend we went out to Dickson Street. Friday night we handed out several Gospel tracts and had the opportunity to speak to some one-to-one. Saturday I went out to open-air preach. We got out there and spoke to one guy(one-to-one) for about 20 mins or so. He had a very foggy imagination of what God desires. He told me I was a sinner because the car I drive isn't efficient. God is much more concerned with your soul than he is this world, which will burn. We started asking simple trivia questions to draw a crowd and when someone would get a question right we would give them money. We had about 3-5 people gather and listen. Then I started saying to people "who wants some money? Come and get it here it is!" No one would come and take it. I wasn't even going to ask questions. It would have just been theirs if they would have came and got it. Then I begin to preach about pride. People are so proud that they don't want others to think that they need money. We never got much of a crowd but there were some seeds planted I'm sure. There were people driving by with their windows down and you could tell they thought I was a mad-man. After this we just went to do some one-to-one and hand out tracts. Even though some may think it looked like a failure, true success comes in obedience not number. We are going out next week and doing the same thing. We will probably move to a different part of the street and I am going to try to get an easel and get a sign.. I think that will give people another reason to stop.

Even though some may think it looked like a failure, true success comes in obedience not number. We are going out next week and doing the same thing.Amen bro! don't be discouraged, go on, He is with you! keep preaching for The Audience of One!be blessed!William

Obedience...simple obedience is what God is pleased with. Be obedient to do what He asks of you and just wait and watch...God Bless you, bro.

I thought I would just modify the Subject on this thread instead of starting a new one.I went out to preach again this weekend. This time we moved to another corner that is a lot more busy. I got up on the soapbox and I started talking about 9-11 and begin to move it into a Gospel message. I didn't even get to the Gospel part until I had someone already yelling at me and mocking me. I then begin to preach sin and righteousness. A man was walking toward me from across the street and I pointed the man out and said "Do you think you are a good person, if you are I'll give you $10." He got within an inch or so of my nose. I see how important elevation is now! This get kept saying, "Why don't you get down from there!" But as long as I stood up there he didn't try to do anything. I went through some of the law with him and he said he has never lied, stolen, or lusted. I called him out to the crowd and started preaching about how this man thought he was perfect and how he was very wrong. After that they stayed around and listened for about 20 mins or so. Every once and awhile they would start cussing at me. We never really got much of a crowd listening to me directly but there got to be a crowd of about 20-30 waiting to cross the street. I know they were listening. There seemed to be a new crowd crossing the street about every 5 mins. I would just preach the same message to each crowd. I really have no idea how many people got to hear my 5 minute sermon. I would guess around 200. It is a fairly constant flow of people stopping a the corner to cross the street. I preached some where around an hour. Some would stop and mock and cuss for awhile and then go on. It really is a totally different feel in the open-air. I have preached several times in church pulpits but it is just so much more intense standing on a soapbox!

There seemed to be a new crowd crossing the street about every 5 mins. I would just preach the same message to each crowd. I really have no idea how many people got to hear my 5 minute sermon. I would guess around 200. It is a fairly constant flow of people stopping a the corner to cross the street.Isa 55:11"So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My Mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."He takes care of the rest, you are being obediant, that's the key bro, obedieance! And know it's not about the things you can accomplish, but about being obediant to The Lord!:-)be blessed bro!William

Let's keep it up, all you street preachers out there! Preach the Gospel to all men everywhere. It's great what has been happening here, PParsley. :-)

It was a little slow this weekend. I don't know where all of the people were. Saturday night there was a college game, so we went out a little earlier to try to catch the crowd going to the bar before the game. I got up and started shouting "God loves sex! God loves sex!" and then I asked "You love sex too don't you?!" People started laughing and agreeing that they did love sex. I then told them what type of sex God loves. God loves sex in marriage with a man and a women. Their faces dropped as soon as I said that. We had a few mockers. A few weeks ago we were just getting there and on a railing were 2 guys with their shirts off yelling and rapping at people. That week we witnessed to one teen who was with them and he seemed very humbled by what we said but the others he was with left because they didn't want to hear it. Those 2 guys were there when I set up my step-stool to preach on. I figured there was going to be some major heckling, but to my surpise they didn't do much other than mock us. They did listen to me the whole time. There were 2 other teen girls that were there that said they were christians. They kept asking a lot of questions like, "what do you belive about ___?" They seemed to me to have a firm Christian background but not the reality that should be with a Christian that is furvently serving the Lord. Over all it was good.

Hi bro!thanks for the update!, are you going to do this every week from now on?I got up and started shouting "God loves sex! God loves sex!" and then I asked "You love sex too don't you?!" People started laughing and agreeing that they did love sex. I then told them what type of sex God loves. God loves sex in marriage with a man and a women. Their faces dropped as soon as I said that.shouting that will sure get the attention!They seemed to me to have a firm Christian background but not the reality that should be with a Christian that is furvently serving the Lord.Yea, Paul and i discovered the same on the christian music festival this summer, where we asked people about God and if they knew Him as a reality. Unfortunatly most guys/girls only had a christian background, they had some knowlegde, but not the relationship with Christ :-( that was sad...but keep preaching The Truth bro!be blessedWilliam

Yeah I plan on doing it as much as possible. Right now we usually do one-to-one on Friday's and Open-Air on Saturday. But it will probably turn into doing open-air more often. There is a HUGE biker rally called Bikes, Blues, and BBQ going on there in a few weeks. On the offical website they said over 200,000 attendees are expected to attend! There population in Fayetteville is only 58,047! 157,715 in the county (which is a division of the state..if you didn't know).

awesome bro, may God use you, bless you and make you more like Him :-)On the offical website they said over 200,000 attendees are expected to attend! There population in Fayetteville is only 58,047! 157,715 in the county (which is a division of the state..if you didn't know).wow that is great! :-) (and i didn't know about the numbers)be strengtheneth and of good courage!Joshua 1:9Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for The LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Awesome brother, keep preaching the truth.

I've been so encouraged by everyone's reports on here!I ended up preaching Friday and Saturday night.Friday- We usually only do one-to-one on Friday but I always have my step-stool with me incase God ever stirs me up to preach. We were doing some one-to-one and it was time to preach. We went back to my vehicle and got my stool. We found a different place to preach this time. There is a club that has huge windows that they open up, so I set up shop right outside the window. It was very intense! Probably the most intense night I have faced. As soon as I started this guy started yelling "I love ___ (lets say he was saying women... he was using much more sexual language), I love ___!" And then he yelled at this girl and asked her if she loved __ and she yelled "Yes I love___!" and they started dirty dancing right in front of me. We had hecklers left and right. After we were done preaching one guy was telling me how christians should preach.. even though he was an atheist. It was intense to say the least..Saturday- It rained Saturday night. But I thought, "If they can party in the rain I know I can preach in the rain." So we went out. I set up by the same place. Not many hecklers because no one wanted to get wet. But people right inside the club were listening. One lady started taking pictures of me. There was one guy that really caught my attention. I think he was convicted. He was sitting at a table listening intently to everything I was saying. His wife (or so I think) had to grab his arm and shake him to get his attention, so she could talk to him. They left not long after that. I pray he would turn to God. This week is going to be BUSY! There is a huge biker rally this week.. It starts Wend and ends Saturday night. I read on their website that 200,000 are expected to attend! I plan on being out there Wend, Thurday, and most all day Saturday. Friday I am going to see Keith Daniel! Please pray that many seeds will be planted and that God would yield the increase.

wow bro, awesome report! Keep planting seeds! Keep doing what God has called you to do! I'm glad you are encouraged and blessed to do it even more!;-)Stay sencetive to The Holy Spirit! Let Him lead you, and that you may speak The Words people need to hear this wednesday till saturday!And may God speak to your heart this friday!be very blessed bro! :-)

I went out last night to the first day of Bikes, Blues, and BBQ (it might as well be called Bikes, Booze, and BBQ).We didn't stay really long because both of us had to work today. We started out and we had several mockers behind us. They wouldn't ever come say anything to me just mock behind my back. I had a water bottle sitting behind me on a ledge. They grabbed it when I wasn't looking and opened the cap and turned the bottle on its side so it would pour on my legs. (Wasn't that painful.. :-P ) About 15 mins after that the police asked us to leave because a club bouncer didn't like us being there. We talked to the police and questioned them asking us to leave (very politely). More less we made it known that we knew that legally we didn't have to move because it was public property but were just being nice by moving. It was getting later so we just decided to go on home. We are going out tonight and I suspect there will be a lot more people out!

WOW, there were a lot of people out last night! It was very exciting! I preached two different times. I seen 4 people I went to high school with. HAHA Could you imagine going to school with someone who partied all the time and then walking down the road you see that same guy holding a Bible in the air and preaching on a street courner?! HA! I pray to God I get to see it some day! They had the oppurtunity to see it. One wouldn't hardly look at me. He just said Hi and then wouldnt make eye contact with me. I know they were convicted. They all knew who I WAS and that I am now saved. I thank God for giving me the opportunity to impact them. I am going to MO to see Keith Daniel tonight! WOO HOO!Saturday we are going back to Bikes, Blues, and BBQ to preach.

I want to go see Keith Daniel! Tell him to come to New Brunswick next!Keep it up, brotherIn Christ,-Eli

My deepest respect for your obedience. May the Lord raise up more for this ministry to the lost. Preach on brother!In HimGery

Hi Joshgreat to see your enthausiasme in your post!! [laughs] praise God!please tell us how the conference was!Be praying for you tonight, that people will see there is only One Way, Jesus Christ! And see the love He showed that He died for them! And only by Grace that they can be saved! may God annoint you and the words you speak, that they will come out of The Heart of God!

I posted about the conference in the thread about Keith Daniel's schedule.Mar 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him [any question].We went down to Bikes, Blues, and BBQ Saturday. Instead of feeling "Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." I felt "Thou art not far from the kingdom of Hell." My honest reaction when I got there was to leave. It was a huge sin-fest. They have what they call "Beer Gardens" up and down the street. A Beer Garden is like a open bar. They set it up in a parking lot or an open space. Women were dressed like harlots. It was full of sin. Of course this is a big biker thing so it was a little bit different of a crowd than the usual college students. There were sooooo many people. I preached twice. The first time I preached as I stood on my stool I felt like a river was flowing under me because of all the people slowly pushing their way down the street. Many people got to hear the Gospel even if they didn't want to stick around and listen because it was so crowded. There really wasn't any more hecklers than normal.. just a lot more people.The 2nd time I preached I preached like I have never preached before! It was awesome! Words were flowing out of me and I was very fervent. Usually my voice goes out after about 20-30 mins of preaching. I think I preached for about 45-60 mins the 2nd time. God touched my voice! It has never lasted that long in the open air. I could have went on and on. I also seen many people I have went to high school with. I didn't get to talk to them personally but they heard me preach. I pray that they would be converted... I'm fairly sure they were convicted. They wouldn't look at me face to face but for a moment. We are starting to have a prayer meeting at our church this Saturday night. I will be bringing the Word and then hitting the streets! God has been filling me with a desire to preach, preach, and preach some more. Please pray for the meeting. I will be speaking and then we will go into prayer. The word God has given me is entitled "Horror." The main text will be:Psa 119:53 Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.

Brother, that is so awesome! God bless you! I think you and I are very much alike, with an ever-increasing desire to preach. May we be faithful and humble.God bless you brother,-Eli

Friday night:Just about as soon as I started to Open-air 2 girls got a little bit in front of me and started mock-worshipping me. They were bowing in front of me. I recognized one girl. She use to sing at my church! She was one that would always sing and has a wonderful voice. She hasn't been at our church for a long time. She left, well I don't know all of the details but I belive my pastor knew she was in open sin and I think gave her the option to repent in front of the church or leave. She was a totally different person out of the church building. Anyways.. as soon as I recongized who it was I begin to preach to her, knowing much about her I preached about her completely turning her back on God. It was really hurtful to see her. Not that it hurt me but.. she has heard the Gospel loud and clear.. several, several times. Our pastor is far from a "namby pamby" preacher. I wish she would repent. Then a guy got mad at me and said " What? Are you a Christian?" I ofcourse said yes and then he replied," That's your problem. You are tring to push your religion on me! I am a Catholic, not a Christian!" I was stunned. Most Christians would not dare say that a Catholic was not a Christian, but some Catholics cry with pride that they are not Christians, but Catholics.I started talking to one couple either before the open-air or after (I forgot) and I was witnessing to both of them but the girl started to hide behind her boyfriend. I thought nothing of it because in my mind she was just wanting to leave. I was rapping up what I was saying and about to move on. The guy was convicted and was a Christian (or so he says, God knows). He was going to a birthday party and had been drinking. Right when I was telling them bye, I looked at the girl in the face and she was crying! They were already going on their way so I didn't stop them, but wow... I have never seen anyone come to tears while witnessing to them untill now. Saturday night:After our church's prayer meeting, 2 other guys and myself (yeah! the crowd has grown from 2 to 3!) went out. We talked to several one-to-one that went really great! I open-aired twice. The first time we had a Catholic (not the same one) that also made the distinction that Catholics and Christians are not the same thing. There were 2 guys who were very mad at me. One was drunk and started to put his hands on my arms and shake me to get my attention. (I was trying to ignore them.) I said a few words to him and he calmed down. I could feel the intensity skyrocket as this mans anger grew. And with his anger growing so was the crowd! There were many that heard the Gospel that night!Sunday night:I preached at a church sunday night. I know this church fairly well because before I was converted I went there with my family. It is a church that is stuck in "religion." Its the type of church that is filled with "good ol boys" but not much fire for God. Wow... I preached probably one of my best sermons in a church that night. Everything flowed so good. Before the night I just wanted to pour out my whole soul to them because I don't feel they are getting anywhere near to the depth of God as God desires them to be. Many were shocked and startled. I preached on having a false peace by just trying to ignore your conscience vs truely being born again. All the glory is His!

I really think that this money technique is not biblical at all and hinders the true gospel of Jesus Christ from reaching people. All I know is that when I tried the money technique it did not work. And when I just started to stand up and preach people listened or atleast got their attention.Edit: I tried the money thing the very first time. I still have not got a sign or anything.. I don't know if I will or not yet. It might help when I'm near somewhere loud, so atleast they would know what I'm doing even if they cannot hear.

I met a brother in the Lord last Friday at the bible study here at work. He is a traveling outdoor preacher who does not have a place to lay his head at night. I believe the Lord brought him into my life to strengthen me in what He has called me to do. Today I stood on Bruin Walk here at Ucla and preached the good news of the Kingdom with my brother at my side. Tomorrow is another day for the Lord, please pray for His power in the work that He would have me do. Finally, living life on the edge.In ChristJeff

Amen! God is raising up fearless street preachers worldwide!

i was also in MO to hear Keith Daniel, rather listened to a man through whom God spoke... a man drenched in the word and prayer... i will never be the same again... i am no longer... now Christ alone lives in me... i in him and He in me...

last sunday under a bridge i preached on Jer 52:31-34 (exact same passage in last chapter 2 Kings , in case you missed it the first time!) King Evil-Merodach... can any good thing come out of Evil-Merodach? Indeed, he released king Jehoiachin from his captivity... how sad that a king was locked up for 38 years... how sad that we, made in the image of God, are bound by sin... he lifted up his head, he released him, he set his throne above, he changed his prison garments, he supped with him and he gave him a daily allowance, every day, until the day of his death, all the days of his life... a picture of what Christ did for us...

It's been awhile since I've updated to I thought I would. I have still been going out every weekend, but I just having updated.. sorry.Every Friday and Saturday night there is a guy who plugs in his amp and plays and sings all night. I thought.. hey.. if this guy can do that so can I! I talked to some officers and they said I could. I am calling the Public Information Officer today because those officers didn't know all the info about it. There are some plug-ins on one corner of the street which will be perfect! Eventually I want to have 2 mics, one for me and one for hecklers to ask questions/comments! Right now I'm going to be looking for equipment. I have some I can borrow (minus the kill switch for heckler mic). I am going to try to find a kill switch for the mic. If I can't find one a man at church said he could build one for me no problem! I would also like to video tape some of it. Please be in prayer about this. If anyone has any suggestions about equipment or anything, please say so!Thanks.

If anyone wants to see what it looks like where I preach. go here, and go to page 7, Photo 1. That is one of my favorite spots. The red building is a brewery. I stand with my back to the last post facing down the street. The building with lots of windows are clubs that open their windows up.

The first person I seen do it was Ray Comfort. He does it to attract a crowd. He says "people will either love money or love God." So he does it to get their attention. Also, he will say he does it because of all the money-stealing evangelists. Kind of pay back what has been stolen. He does it to show his motive isn't to get people's money because a lot of people think all preachers are like tel-evalgelists.

Friday night was very very slow! I guess all the partiers stayed home because it was a little colder. We got to talk to 2 people. But that's ok. Saturday night at our prayer meeting God gave me a powerful message to preach. It was called Sleeping for Sorrow. It was taken out of Luke's account of the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus came to them and found them "sleeping for sorrow." Actually the disciples were very sorrowful, unlike most (and I did) imagine. They had a lot of things to be concerned about and pray for in this "prayer meeting." Jesus just told them about one of their companions were going to betray him, and Peter was just told that he would deny the Lord three times. They were also watching Jesus pray in much travail and agony. I mean they left everything to follow him! and now he probably for the first time is completely helpless looking as he is in so much pain that He is sweating blood. Sure they cared, even sorrowful, but did they pray? Sure they probably prayed 10 or 15 minutes before they fell asleep. Jesus was in agony and prayed the more exceedingly! How many of us truly do care and are sorrowful about things and people going to Hell but are still sleeping ? We all had a wonderful time in prayer afterwards.On Dickson we talked to a few people one-to-one. Conviction was in the air. Both guys I talked to were very alerted about their condition with God. After this we went and got my easel and stool to open-air preach. The easel with a sign really helps. It makes people stop and read the sign. Then they start asking questions or heckling. My lungs are getting a lot stronger. I'm thankful for that. People are now able to hear me farther and farther away. We usually use a mic at church but we didn't record the sermon as usually so I got to exercise my lungs in the church building and outside! There is truly nothing like lifting up your voice like a trumpet, whether that be in the building or on the street!!

I forgot one detail. Saturday night I had a women walk up to me, and say, " I should kill you." I just kind of ignored her and kept preaching. Then she started to reach down in her bag and she pulled out a plastic gun! She stuck it to my stomach, not lightly I might add. And looked me in the eye and pulled the trigger 3 times and started laughing. It was crazy. It didn't phase me a bit! Instinctly I jumped a little when she pulled the trigger the first time but never stopped preaching. As she put the gun down I started preaching about motives and intensions, how God would see if she really wanted to kill me. What made it even crazier to me is that earlier last week I was thinking about what it would be like to be a martyr. And I had a day-dream about some man pointing a gun to my head and shooting me. I was telling my friend (who was with me when the girl did the plastic-gun incident) about that day dream earlier that night. About all the people that would be affected, hopefully zealously, and make them want to preach the Gospel no matter what. Trust me that day-dream flashed through my head when that lady pulled out the plastic-gun!

wow...crazy, but so good to see you just keep on preaching, can only by His Strength bro!Stay in the center of God's Will and you're immortal, as John Wesley once said!Be led by His Spirit to preach and walk in His Guideance!-William

I'm going to a Christmas Parade this weekend. Here is a link about it. Its about 1/2 way down the page.

Seeing Eli's thread made me remember that I needed to update mine.Friday night it was somewhat slow, as I think Dickson Street will be in the winter. People are still packing out the bars and clubs, but they are all inside. I talked to one group of people for awhile, they all left except for one and I talked to him for a long time. One in the group as soon as he seen I was talking about God started calling me names and yelling, "If your out here to talk about God your just a *&%&%." And then he proceeded to talk about God by telling me what his concept of God was. It was hypocritical of him to call me names and then talk about God but, he was MUCH bigger than I and was breathing out threats to me so I wisely decided to not mention it to him. :-P They all left except but one and we had a good talk. He would have huge mood swings. Sometimes he would threaten to hit me then he would tell me how much truth I was speaking and how great of a person I was. He was one to believe all religions are they same and that all are wonderful.Saturday night we went out to the pagan parade and the lights. I never noticed how pagan people have made Christmas. If I didn't know better I would think it was called Santamas. I preached about idolitry and how people have made Santa (Satan?) into God. Look at this. They say Santa can see what everyone is doing. He rewards them. Good with good, bad with bad. He sits on the circle of the earth, the north pole. Ask him and ye shall recieve. Sounds like a replacement for God to me...I preached on that along with my regular message of sin, righteousness, judgement, and grace. No hecklers! I was amazed. It was a totally different atmosphere. It was all families instead of partiers. The only mocker that I seen was when a women came up to me with her dog and tried to get her dog to pee on my stool. Several people stood around and listened! Overall you couldn't have asked for a better crowd. It was encouraging to see whole families, kids and all, listening. The square stays lit up all during the holiday season, so that will probably be where we will be untill Jan.

By the way I just changed my ISP and it came with 100MB of webspace. I am working on getting a small webpage up with pictures and hopefully clips. I'm in the proccess of it now.

I havent put much time into the website I made yet, but I have posted a clip of some OA preaching and a compilation I made awhile back.Here is the website:http://www.dailup4less.com/~jtccjt

Last night we went out to the square to preach. The crowd was mixed. I had one kid (probably around 14) try to give me some money while I was preaching. He said that he just wanted to thank me. I was really blessed by him, but of course I couldn't take the money. Especially since 5 mins before that I made a point to tell them I'm not out here with an offering plate asking for your money, I just want you to turn and serve the Living God. One heckler paused my preaching for a moment and a man in the crowd yelled out, "Don't let them discourage you! Keep on!" That was awesome! I had one women come up to me and tell me I was ruining the atmosphere. I asked her, "the Christmas atmosphere?" She didn't want to reply yes because she knew that I would come back with, " how am I ruining the Christmas atmosphere by preaching Christ?" She just walked off. One man came skipping down the road, rapping, and cursing me out, all at the same time! When he got in front of me I began to rebuke him and tell him to watch his mouth because there was women and children around. He listened! He stopped cursing. The crowd grew I would guess around 40 or so at this time. There was probably more but I'll keep it on the lower side just incase. That amazes me. Some churches couldn't even beg for that many people to come on a Friday if all they were doing were preaching. Let's have church where the people are! After this man came up I got mobbed (just by questions!) by 2 other men trying to get me to leave. Well, that's some of the high points of 18 mins of preaching! When you start preaching in the open-air it doesn't take much to get some attention! I recorded the entire sermon and I hope to have it on my webpage in a couple days.

Here is the clip.And here is a picture of where I was.