Evangelism at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, September 2nd, 2019
- hemadeusalive
- Sep 10, 2019
- 5 min read
This day was incredibly eventful, and I am so thankful to the Lord that He has blessed us with so many opportunities to talk to others. He blessed us with the boldness and willingness we all needed. God is faithful and so good to us!
Sean, Galal, their friend Reuben, Zach, and I all went out to the Oceanfront this day to proclaim the Gospel. We were anticipating a large crowd, it being Labor Day and all, but we were met with only a few people here and there. Despite the shortage of people, we were able to have so many awesome conversations–Sean even got to open-air preach!
Zach and I brought all of the Don’t Stub Your Toe Booklets that our wedding guests didn’t take, and we were able to give almost all of them out! There were about 70 or so leftover, and so this is so awesome to think about! I know that everyone else got to give out tracts too in between talking to people, and I am just so thankful that the Lord has blessed us with the ability to legally do this (for now).
Zach was very bold in passing out tracts. It seemed like he was zig-zagging all down the Oceanfront at some points. This brings me great joy to see my husband zealously passing out literature and encouraging me to do the same. Unfortunately, he did not get to talk to anyone. However, he did have someone shout at him! It’s not as big of a deal as you are thinking, though. He tried to pass a tract out to a woman who was walking very fast, and in response she screamed, “I’M JEWISH.” At face value, it was more comedic than anything else, but now I am noticing the hostility to the Gospel!
Galal got to share the Gospel with a Muslim man. They ended up talking for well over half an hour, and Galal even gave him his contact info (I know this because I gave Galal a pen). I am not sure if the man has contacted him, but please pray for this young man and that God would save him. Pray that he would contact Galal and that they would have many more fruitful conversations, to the glory of God.
Galal also got to share the Gospel with three college-aged guys, and I was able to record it for The Laborers YouTube channel. This was something really amazing to be a part of! I won’t talk about everything now to give you more incentive to watch it when the clip is posted :). However, I will ask for you to please pray for these three young men and that they would turn from their sin and trust in Jesus Christ, our Savior. Pray that they would grow to hate the sins of the flesh, and that they would realize their own mortality.
Galal got to proclaim the Gospel with many others, but I wasn’t around for a lot of them and didn’t get the chance to ask him about it. Maybe he should start his own blog! Haha.
Reuben also got to share the Gospel with many families that were headed out to the beach. It was so encouraging to see this; I often find it really intimidating to talk to more than one person at a time.
I got to share the Gospel with a woman named Dee, who considered herself to be a very spiritual person. If I am honest, I feel like I completely bombed our conversation aside from the actual Gospel part. We talked in circles for almost half an hour about the Old Testament and the validity of Scripture. Essentially, Dee believed that she was the ultimate authority in deciding what of God’s Word is valid rather than God Himself. She only trusted the Scriptures that ‘spoke to her’, and she did not believe that God would send people to hell or even punish sin. She believed that everyone goes to heaven, but she also said that specifically if you are a Christian you go to heaven. To tell you the truth, I got lost rather quickly trying to pick what to talk to her about; topics were moving so fast! However, I am so thankful to the Lord that I did actually get to share the Gospel fully with her. She asked me what I believe and I told her, simple as that. When we were finished talking, Sean was able to give her an American Gospel DVD. Please pray that Dee would watch it and be changed by it. Pray that she would be saved by God’s grace and that she would realize that the Bible is God’s Word.
I also got to share the Gospel with a young man. Sean recorded this conversation, again for The Laborers channel. Hopefully you will see it very soon! I will say this: overall, he was pretty agreeable, but still wanted to sin. Please pray that this man would repent of his sins and believe in Jesus Christ. Pray that the Lord would change his demeanor towards his sin and that he would grow to hate it.
Lastly, I would like to talk about Sean’s open air preaching. Zach and I might be biased, but we thought it was so cool. We have never been around anyone open-airing, let alone one of our good friends. Sean stood up on a stool (with an empty one opposite) and asked the passer-by’s random questions. If they got it right, they got one dollar. Once he drew a crowd, he would out “I have a five dollar question: are you a good person?”
Once they said yes (and they always did), Sean would ask them if they would step up on the stool opposite his and go through a test. They almost always did, and that was the way he would share the Gospel. He walked them through the Law, showing them that they were not actually good. Then he would talk about Jesus, how He was perfect and without sin, and how He died on the cross for us. He urged them to repent and believe, and then he gave them the five dollars as a gift (just like how salvation is a gift and we cannot earn it)!
No one was particularly angry this time. Sean told Zach that when he went to the Pride Fest this year, people threw their food trash and cigarette butts in his open backpack. One guy walking by said, “This is a f)$*%$# joke,” but that was about it. Instead, people just watched this spectacle. Please pray that the Gospel has fallen on good soil, and that these bystanders had ears to hear. Pray that the Lord would save them and that they would find biblical churches.
That’s about it for this day. It was so encouraging and such an absolute blessing to be a part of. I think of how often I am dragging my feet to do things like this, and I am saddened, but God is slowly transforming my heart into being a more obedient servant. Please pray for my obedience to the Lord, and please pray for my friends. Pray that we would always look to Christ and never ourselves on days like this. Pray that we would magnify Christ and grow in our love and thankfulness. Pray that we would consistently share the Gospel outside of these planned events. Pray for the lost that we got to talk to. Pray for September 28th, when we will go out again to share the Gospel. The teenager group at Zach and I’s church will be coming along, Lord willing. Thank you for reading!
Here’s a picture of Sean open-air preaching.
Comments