Today is Saturday, August 30th, 2014, the last weekend of the summer, and the start of Labor Day weekend here in the United States. I made it down to the Des Moines Farmers Market in the historic Court Avenue district, to herald the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to:
1. Extend God's offer of forgiveness to all who will repent & trust in Jesus - and Jesus alone - to save them from the consequences of their sin against God.
2. Encourage believer's to boldly live for and share Jesus Christ with everybody & anybody while they can during this short life here on earth.
This is my little corner of the harvest field. Someone commented about there being "better soil" elsewhere, but all these people are eternal souls, who will spend eternity either in the presence of God with unspeakable joy, or as miserable creatures suffering the judgment of God forever separated from His love. No, this is my field, and I will work it as long as the Lord gives me strength of body & mind to do so. Here's my view from the south-west corner of Court Ave. and 2nd Street where I spoke today.
Wow, what an excellent day! My friends from the Atheist booth down on Court & 3rd drop by to pay their respects. I always enjoy their efforts to disparage or to stop the preaching of the gospel, because they help draw a crowd of interested listeners, and that was certainly the case today. So thank you, my atheist friends: I love you for Christ's sake, and I am praying for you. You claim to be "free thinkers", but will never know freedom or experience truth until you humble yourself before your God, whom you do know, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. May that be true for all of you!
It was a great day, and the war of worldviews was on! Praise God that I was clothed with His holy armor (Ephesians 6:10-18), and that the weapons of my warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
Click
HERE for the link to the audio.
Please remember, this is a raw, on-the-street recording, so while it may not be Dolby stereo, it pretty much reflects the environment we work in. It includes times where I am standing on my box & speaking out to people walking through the Market, times when people came up close & personal to dispute what I was saying, and also personal discussions between 1 or 2 people. I left it all on there, and you can skip through or listen to as much or as little as you like.
PLEASE NOTE: I was down at the Market alone today. You will hear comments or statements made by other Christians who jumped into the fray. I do not endorse or approve of anything anyone may have said in support of the gospel proclamation. Be a Berean (Acts 17:11), and check out everything everyone says (including me) against the Scriptures.
You'll want to hear how things went down...it was a real rhubarb, but God is always faithful, and I am so much more encouraged to live for His glory, both publicly & privately, and to reach out to those who are blinded and taken captive by the enemy or our soul, through false religion or philosophies that are contrary to the revealed word of God. Please pray for all who heard, especially the atheists, that they might repent and trust Christ Jesus before it is eternally too late. Maranatha!
About two years after I became a Christian back in 2003 we had two members of Gideons International come visit our church. After listening to the testamonies of these men, and what the organization stood for, I knew that I watned to be a member of this proffesional men's association. After applying several times, and then being denied several times, I gave up hope that my dream would happen, and accepted the fact that I would never be a member. Years later a friend of mine joined the organization and begged me to go to a few meetings. Carefully I went not to get my hopes up. Not getting our hopes up I did fill out another application. Long story short, I was chosen, became a member, and received my emblem in July, 2014. The fire was lit again, and was grateful to be a part of this proffesional men's organization boldly going into the world to proclaim the gospel and distributing God's word throughout the world. 
Wednesday was my first Gideon Bible distribution and what better way to start would be at the University of Northern Iowa. I was supprised to know that I was the only one to represent Des Moines East Camp, and I was welcomed by impressed men that I would drive two hours to lend a hand. We all met at the Hy-Vee to have breakfast, fellowship, and get our assignments. Since help was short, each of us had to take our own postions alone. 
Not realizing where I would be I was placed at one of the main gates on the corner of College and University. I had a lot of traffic, but I was only able to give out 47 Gideon New Testaments out of 200 available. The students were genuinely nice, some very grateful, some cautious, and some stand-offish. I was able to have a conversation with a Muslim girl. She was very grateful to receive the testament, and I was able to carry on a conversation before she had to go to class. Before she left I gave her a tract from Living Waters called, "Are You Good Enough To Go To Heaven?" and she said she was going to read them both. In the end, we gave out 3,159 Testaments total with 28 Gideons and 2 Auxillary members. One man gave out 500 by himself, and on average we gave 100 per man. Next week we hit University of Iowa, then the following week is Iowa State University. Please be in prayer that we have enough laborers to harvest these fields and that many come to the Lord by the Testaments given. 
