Praise Report ~ Summer4Souls™ Wynberg to Muizenberg Outreach and Back Again …

The following Praise Report was written by Brother Nigel Titus in December 2009 ~

Our Summer4Souls™ outreach campaign continued this week [December 29, 2009] with another evangelism event at the popular Surfer’s Corner location in Muizenberg, along the False Bay coast. We thought about doing things a little differently this time, and decided to take a Metro train from Wynberg to Muizenberg, a distance of about 15km. The idea was to start the outreach activities on the train journey itself, by witnessing, handing out tracts and preaching to fellow commuters in the carriage. The train lines are usually packed with holiday–makers this time of year, so we thought we’d take full advantage of the crowds. Plus we reckoned that people couldn’t exactly jump off if they took offence to our message. And of course, the number one reason for doing our thing on the train…..wait for it…..you guessed it….What better place to hand out tracts?….*groan*….:-)…

As expected, the train was jam-packed, with family members and those on vacation looking forward to having some fun in the sun. We started by forming a circle and praying that God would guide us and give us boldness as we proclaimed His Word for the next 20-25 minutes. I started proceedings by preaching for about 10 minutes as well as doing some Project Ezra readings from the book of Luke. The carriage, that had been relatively noisy when we boarded, suddenly became deathly quiet as commuters listened attentively to the Word of God being proclaimed. I’m not sure why,  but we had NO hecklers at all,  and the crowd were even appreciative with some even applauding after the Word was proclaimed! The great thing also about preaching on the train was that as people got off at various stops, others got on which meant the Word probably reached about 250-300 people for that short journey!

When I was done, other members of the team jumped in and started reading their selected portions and ministering God’s word. While this was happening. The rest of the group handed out gospel tracts and fliers to the rest of the people, the million $ tracts went like hot cakes! We are grateful to God that a couple of “new faces” in the team also did their bit, by swallowing their fears and reading the Word on the train! The rest of the team provided plenty of encouragement and support which visibly boosted their confidence.

What followed next was quite extraordinary – A young lady who I noticed had been listening very attentively to the preaching suddenly got up after a member of our team had finished, and she started preaching as well!…She said she was from Scotland on a mission trip, felt encouraged by our team preaching,  and went ahead and ministered the Word to the crowd!…When she was done, a young man who was sitting quietly a few feet from me, also jumped up, proclaimed he too was a Christian, said he was so inspired by the preaching, and then he too started to declare the Law and the Gospel with boldness and confidence!…. It seemed as if God had sanctified that particular carriage just for us preachers!……Bad place to be though, if you loved your sin!

When we got off at our destination, we praised God for the wonderful time we spent on the train line. We agreed it was definitely worthwhile to further pursue this means of evangelism in future. I guess while we are still allowed to preach the Gospel this way in our country, we should take full advantage. And there you have it – Project Ezra readings done on a moving train!….PRAISE GOD!

We spent another couple of hours at Surfer’s Corner and Muizenberg, reminding beach-goers of their imminent appointment with a holy and righteous God on Judgment Day. We’ve been evangelizing at this particular “fishing hole ‘ for over a year now, but I must admit , this was the toughest day of outreach yet that I’ve encountered at this place. The spirit of pride , self-confidence and arrogance dominated the attitudes and mind-sets of the people that we spoke and preached to, with many of the team being verbally abused, heckled and sworn at. Their general argument was that they came to have a good time with their family and friends, and not to hear about impending judgment, or their real state before a holy God. After a sustained period of abuse, I could tell some of the team (a few who were still pretty new to this) starting to despair and lose courage, and wanting to give up. I rounded up the troops, & reminded them that Jesus said in John 15…“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you…”. We agreed that the rejection and dismissive attitudes were simply a natural consequence of a guilty conscience and that we should not take it personally. We also reminded ourselves that being rejected and brushed aside by the world was nothing compared to what they will experience in the lake of fire one day, so we agreed to press on and do what we’ve been commanded to do. I encouraged the troops that we were really after all smack bang in the middle of a spiritual battle, and we should expect these attacks when venturing out.

Despite all of this, there were quite a few people who were very open and attentive to listening to the Gospel and agreed that they needed to examine themselves more closely about the state of their souls. God allowed us to pray with and intercede for a number of people – as well as passing out hundreds of tracts to the beach-goers, which also opened up opportunities to share the Gospel. At the end of the day, despite the tough conditions, we persevered, and hundreds of people got a chance to hear the gospel.

On the train trip back, we continued our Ezra readings and preaching of the Gospel. The final tracts were handed out, and many of the commuters were genuinely interested in what we had to say, with many paying close attention and listening to the preaching attentively and thoughtfully. I guess at the end of the day, that’s all we can do, be faithful, preach the Gospel, and leave the rest up to God!

After the day’s events, we re-gathered at my place, with a good meal (!), and to discuss the day and chat about how things went. I have found this type of “look back” sessions to be very important, as it allows us to ask ourselves what went right, what didn’t work out so well and how can we improve for the next trip. A lot of soul searching and introspection was done, with some of the team conceding that they needed to work hard and improve on some of their witnessing skills. One young man admitted that he was a bit stumped when speaking to some Muslims and Jews, as he did not how to handle their objections and arguments. We took this as an action item and made plans to convene in the new year and have a more detailed study of the different faiths and how to respond to their objections. One member of the team was unhappy with himself, as he got involved in a heated argument with somebody that ended up simply going nowhere. We took this as another action item to remind ourselves that no-one gets saved by arguing them into the kingdom. We should speak with gentleness, compassion and love, and leave the saving and convicting to the Holy Spirit.

As can be seen, a lot of hard work still lies ahead, so we ask for your prayers and support as we work the fields. The harsh reality is that it’s not all hunky-dory and plain sailing, and while some days might be easier than others, there are many days that are tough, grueling and takes a lot out of you, physically, emotionally and spiritually. And we don’t expect it to get any easier in the new year. But by God’s grace, and with your prayers, we will doggedly battle on, persisting with our mission, knowing that at the end of it all, God will be glorified!

The photos can be viewed at this slideshow and this gallery.