A Lot of Elevens in a Test too Bizarre

THE Test match between South Africa and Australia that ended at Sahara Park Newlands, Cape Town yesterday was nothing short of bizarre, and not just for the reasons that emerged after Thursday’s pandemonium where 23 wickets tumbled continuously throughout the second day.

As was well documented on social media sites throughout the world, yesterday’s date was 11/11/11.

What was less obvious, but far more mind-boggling, was the manner in which the Proteas’ run chase contributed to the already unique date. When the clock struck 11am yesterday, Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla were still at the wicket with the Proteas’ score on, believe it or not, 111/1. If they had failed to score a run in the next 11 minutes, then there would have been the outrageously freaky situation of South Africa being on 111/1 at 11:11:11am on 11/11/11. As it turns out, Smith and Amla managed a few runs in those 11 minutes, but that was not the end of the day’s peculiarities. When it was that moment in the day when the clock read 11 minutes and 11 seconds past 11am on the 11/11/11, it just so happened that the Proteas’ needed 111 runs (125/1) to win the Test match. Who ever said that Test cricket was boring? – Adapted from the Witness Reporter.

And for the staticians the Test match was wrapped up before lunch on day 3 of 5 and here are the scores:

• Australia 1st Innings – 284 All Out (M. Clarke 151, D. Steyn 4/55, V. Philander 3/63)
• South Africa 1st Innings – 96 All Out (G. Smith 37, S. Watson 5/17, R. Harris 4/33)
• Australia 2nd Innings – 47 All Out (V. Philander 5/15) (At one stage Australia were 21/9)
• South Africa 2nd Innings – 236/2 (G. Smith 101 Not Out, H. Amla 112)

Man of the Match: Debutant Vernon Philander (South Africa) for match figures of 8/78

South Africa beat Australia by eight wickets (1 up in a 2 match Series)

And through all of this, God Almighty the Lord Jesus Christ was still in control of all things, reigning on High, seated on his Heavenly Throne. Nothing changed!

World Cup Outreach in Cape Town

Here is a short e-mail received from Brother Nigel Titus in Cape Town. They have been out evangelising the streets of Cape Town since the evening of Thursday June 10th. A full report will follow, but here is something to rejoice about. Hallelujah to our King:

It’s been simply awesome. I’ve uploaded some photos of our outreach on FaceBook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2062334&id=1124782929&l=0f0ac024a0

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2062475&id=1124782929&l=56a8db74a0

One of the highlights was of a fully fledged Muslim (Tariq) who heard the gospel and repented in full public view of everyone. Praise God!

A Muslim named Tariq (red beenie) repenting before God in public

 Here is also the Gospel Tract in French for visitors to read in their native tongue.

French Gospel Tract - Front

Back - Read the Gospel in French

We will also, hopefully, record all the soccer scores under “The Score Board” with a video link to highlights of the game. We hope that this feature will draw unbelievers to this website so they too can receive the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and see how the Blessed Son is glorifying His Father God Almighty through faith and good works that He has given to His children. May we continue to serve our King clothed in His righteousness until He returns.

— ooo —

The Score Board

Friday June 11

Opening Ceremony ~ Soccer City, Johannesburg

A : South Africa 1 vs. Mexico 1 ~ Soccer City, Johannesburg

A : France 0 vs. Uruguay 0 ~ Green Point, Cape Town

Saturday June 12

B : Korea Republic 2 vs. Greece 0 ~ Port Elizabeth

B : Argentina 1 vs. Nigeria 0 ~ Ellis Park, Johannesburg

C : England 1 vs. USA 1 ~ Rustenburg

Train Ministries – May 1st – 9am @ Retreat Station

Hiya!

Just a friendly reminder of this week-end’s co-ordinated outreach activity on the train lines. We will also be having our Project Ezra readings on the Grand Parade for about an hour or so. Tracts and one2one will naturally be incorporated.

Please remain faithful in prayer and intercession as we continue to build momentum leading up to the outreach event during the FIFA World Cup™ in June /July!  We are also considering a day-long outreach event in the sprawling Cape Town suburb of Mitchell’s Plain next month (May). Pray for God’s direction as we pursue this option.

Nigel Titus

legintitus@gmail.com

Cellular 083 642 4454

Summer4Souls™ – Train Ministry: Retreat – Cape Town – Retreat

Hiya!

Just a friendly reminder of this week-end’s co-ordinated outreach activity on the train lines. We have some new, fresh faces joining us for the first time – please remain faithful in prayer and intercession as God continues to build a dedicated outreach team in Cape Town that will storm our city during the FIFA World Cup™ in June /July! (and beyond).

Please let us know by Thursday latest – God Bless!

Nigel Titus

legintitus@gmail.com

Cellular 083 642 4454

Praise Report ~ Summer4Souls™ Train Ministry: Retreat – Cape Town – Retreat

¹⁴How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15) 

With this scripture ringing in our ears, the team got together on Saturday morning and proceeded to minister the Word, hand out tracts, engage one-on-one conversations and witness to the hundreds of commuters on the Southern Suburbs train line. We started off at a station called Retreat, which is the last thing we actually did, as the soldiers of the cross proceeded to fearlessly advance up the battlefield and proclaim the Gospel with boldness, authority and in power!..PRAISE GOD!

On this particular trip, God added two new members to the group – our Brother Matthew, whom God graciously connected us with at the FIFA World Cup Draw evangelism event held last year, and our Brother Kyle, a member of our local church congregation who also joined us for the first time. These two wonderful brothers bravely swallowed their initial fears and heralded the Gospel, loud and clear to the commuters in the carriage. To God Be The Glory!

Our trip to Cape Town was admittedly tough, with the carriage jam-packed and the team finding it a bit difficult to maneuver their way amongst the scores of people and also having to deal with a very noisy carriage. Our Brother Riedewaan though, broke the ice by boldly declaring the Gospel, reading from the Scriptures and questioning the crowd about the state of their souls. By this time, the noise level was markedly down as people listened attentively to the preaching of the Word.

Plenty of one-on-one conversations were held with the commuters and an abundance of tracts were handed out. The tracts were a real attention grabber as we had just received some brand new Celebrity Million $ bills the week before, and these flew like hot cakes on the train!..

Celebrity Millions Tracts

Obama Million Tract

Youth Celebrity Million Tracts

At Cape Town station, we continued the preaching of the Gospel and handing out tracts to the crowds passing by on the platform. One young man was overwhelmed with guilt and repented of his sins and prayed to God for forgiveness on the busy platform! We made absolutely sure that he understood the serious nature of his sin (by using the Law), and also made sure he completely understood the Gospel (God’s grace) before continuing. The last thing the church needs is more false conversions……

The trip back was a lot easier as far as moving around in the carriage was concerned. Our Brother Matthew did his Project Ezra reading (Psalm 51) , which was a great springboard for the preaching of the Gospel, as Psalm 51 deals extensively with the issue of sin and the nature thereof, God’s nature and attitude to sin, our prerogative to repent and confess our sin, and God’s abundant goodness and mercy when he forgives us. I continued where my Brother Matthew left off, and preached about the reality and certainty of Hell and impending judgment. After my throat refused to co-operate further, Brother Vernon came to the rescue and ministered powerfully to the crowd, who were now completely absorbed with the preaching of the Gospel. Our Brother Riedewaan and Brother Kyle rounded things off by delivering their personal testimonies of how God saved them from eternal death and Hell.

All in all, another tough, but very rewarding day of evangelism and witnessing. We are eternally grateful that Almighty God has entrusted this awesome responsibility to us, a responsibility that we passionately and fervently embrace as we obey our Commander-In-Chief. To God Be The Glory!

Please continue to pray and intercede for us – our next adventure will be announced soon. We also strongly encourage you, if you have not already done so, to sign up as a subscriber to www.luke923evangelism.wordpress.com . This way you will receive automatic notification and announcements of any pending evangelism trips, not only in Cape Town, but across the country as well. This really helps, especially when praying and interceding for the team.

The photos can be viewed at this link.

God Bless

Nigel

Summer4Souls™ Train Ministry in the Cape Peninsula

As part of our on-going outreach campaign, we have decided to dedicate the 1^st Saturday of each month specifically to train ministries. By this we mean we will board the Metro train at a particular location and proceed to preach the gospel, hand out tracts to passengers, and have the Project Ezra scripture readings on the trains.

Thus, our first trip will be this Saturday , February 6^th. We will congregate at Retreat Station at 9am and take the next available train to Cape Town Station. After a short break, we will catch a return train back to Retreat Station. The entire outreach journey should take about 3 hours max. (Hopefully , Metrorail will stay true to form and the coach breaks down in the middle of the journey!)

Please let Nigel Titus know if you would like to attend – We’d like to be in a position to know who’s gonna do what on each leg of the trip. Please also (more importantly), PRAY PRAY PRAY!

God Bless!

Nigel Titus

legintitus@gmail.com

Cellular 083 642 4454

Praise Report ~ Summer4Souls™ Muizenberg & Sunrise Circle beach

The following Praise Report was written by Brother Nigel Titus for Sunday January 10, 2010 ~

With this past week end being the last of the school vacation, we anticipated major crowds at the beaches in and around Cape Town, with beach goers hoping to enjoy the last bit of their holiday before heading back to work & school.

Determined not to let the moment pass us by, we got a team together and headed out to one of our favorite fishing holes, Muizenberg & Sunrise Circle beach. We were joined by two new brothers who had heard of our fishing expeditions and desired to labour with us in the field. By the grace of God, we are thankful that our “core” team of evangelists and like minded brothers and sisters is steadily increasing with each new adventure we have! Praise God!

After praying and agreeing on a plan of action, we proceeded to open air preach and witness at the Sunrise Circle flea market to the hundreds of bargain hunters roaming the area. The loud preaching and proclamation immediately draw the attention of many, who paused their routine activity to pay attention to what the “preachers”, one by one, were declaring and reading from the Bible. Many voiced their disapproval and anger in no uncertain terms, especially the tenants who felt we were interfering with their customer base. We just ignored them and continued to preach and hand out tracts, and I’m thrilled to say that each one of the group confidently and boldly declared the Word of God to the masses! Our preaching focused primarily on the subject of death and what happens after someone dies. The interesting thing is that even though Muizenberg is a great “come together” place, with its clean beaches and feel good vibe, the local cemetery is just a few minutes away. We used this quite frequently when reminding people that the “pleasures of sin” are but for a season, but there’s coming a day when we all have to make that trip down the road. It worked!

When we were nearly done, we were approached by “officialdom” and requested to halt our proceedings as we did not have a “permit” J . After some peaceful negotiation, we were allowed to finish our preaching for the day, but were politely requested, that in the event of future preaching, that we move our “preaching location” a few meters away ( off the official flea market area) to appease the tenants that were complaining. After consideration, we decided it was not a battle worth fighting as our new “proposed” location would not hamper our attempts to draw the crowds. Interestingly enough, “officialdom” conceded that they could not prevent us in engaging in “one2one” witnessing conversations with the potential customers, or handing out tracts for that matter. Whatever!

Despite all this, there were many in the crowd who stayed the entire hour and a half and listened attentively to the preaching without moving an inch. About 4 or 5 actually called us over to talk to them privately about what they had just heard being preached, and we gladly shared with them out of the Bible the truth about Hell and God’s righteous judgment. One fellow was intensely convicted, to the point of weeping when I went through the 10 commandments with him. Please pray for Colin Charles, a Durbanite, that God might save him. There were many others who gladly received tracts and were willing to discuss the state of their souls.

We are also thankful that God connected us to some tourists from the Philippines who are also heavily engaged in outreach work and happened to be shopping at the flea market that day. They were really encouraged by our ministering and promised to pray for us and thanked us for having the boldness to share our faith. They actually videotaped some of the preaching and said they would be showing the footage to their church back home as inspiration and motivation for the rest of their congregation. All Glory to God who is setting the church on fire!

After another hour or so of witnessing and preaching on the beach, the weary but satisfied team returned with more testimonies and praise reports. Although the voices were practically shot (!) , and the limbs and bodies tired from the trip, there was a wonderful sense of “ We need to come back soon!” kind of spirit and attitude in the camp! As they say, so many souls, so little time!

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

Until the next trip!

Blessings,

Nigel Titus

legintitus@gmail.com

Cellular 083 642 4454

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.

Praise Report ~ Summer4Souls™ Outreach in Cape Town

This Praise Report is written by Brother Nigel Titus.

Yesterday, evangelists and like minded Christians heeded the Macedonian call and descended upon Muizenberg to preach the gospel and engage strangers with one2one witnessing encounters. Amongst the team were three new faces, eager to do their bit to obey the Great Commission. After the day’s events, they gave their verbal commitment to support us in our future evangelism endeavors. Praise God for adding to the team!

 God graciously granted us a beautiful, sunny day with just a hint of a fresh breeze blowing. The type of weather that is just PERFECT for preaching the gospel and doing open air preaching. Not that we shouldn’t be preaching when its freezing cold and raining!…. It’s just that good weather typically draws good crowds to a beach venue such as Muizenberg, so we thank God for that! 

And boy, did we get good crowds. The place was literally swarming with people and beach-goers looking to have a good time. The demographic make-up was distinctly cosmopolitan, with people of all races, colors , and languages converging on the tourist hot-spot to enjoy the sunshine with their friends and family. The fact that it was a national public holiday in South Africa also contributed to the extraordinary turnout of the masses.

As per our plan, the team started at the Sunrise Circle flea market just after lunch time and proceeded to engage people about the state of their souls and their eternal destination. We initially encountered a bit of resistance from those shopping at the flea market, but after we set up our video equipment, people voluntarily came forward to talk about their faith, their understanding what Christmas was all about and the state of their souls. Cape Town people simply love attention and the mere possibility of being on TV will cause them to zoom in on the camera-man and interviewer! By the grace of God, we managed to record about 4 or 5 good interviews which we hope to edit and upload to our web-page soon.

As the interviewer, my strategy was basically two-fold. I would either use the pending Christmas Day celebrations as a springboard for to talk about the Law and the Gospel. Typical questions ( with some of the answers received in brackets) included :

 “ What important day are we celebrating on the 25^th of December?”  (answers would be Christmas / Day Jesus was born)

“ Are YOU celebrating Christmas this year?”  (Yes / Definitely / Of course)

“ What is the meaning of Christmas / Why do we celebrate Christmas? (Time to spend with family and friends / Celebrating the day Jesus was born)

“ Why do you think Jesus was born? For what reason was He born? (not too many answers on this one)

At this point, I took them to the Bible in Matthew and showed them that when the angel appeared to Joseph, he was told to name the baby JESUS, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21) 

This then gave me an opportunity to ask people what their understanding of the word SIN was (transgression of the Law), and enabled us to direct the conversation to the Law and the 10 Commandments, and leading up to grace. 

The overwhelming message we left with each person was that Christmas was not simply about spending time with family and friends, or having good food to eat on that day, or receiving great gifts. Christmas is far more significant, the message of Christmas is about SALVATION, and our eternal destinies. Praise God that He allowed us to have some great interviews with members of the crowd! 

Another strategy we used was the fact that the public holiday was called The Day Of Reconciliation – we reminded sinners of their need to be reconciled to God, considering that fact that the bible described them as ENEMIES of God (Romans 5:10). This approach worked really well as many people never considered that God could actually be their adversary and was storing up wrath for them for the day of judgment. We reminded people about how GREAT and MIGHTY and POWERFUL our God is, and that it really is a very bad idea to be on opposing sides of Jehovah God!

After about an hour or so, we proceeded with the Project Ezra readings and open air preaching. Many stopped with their shopping activities to pay attention to us and hear what these “guys on the box” were shouting. This gave a golden opportunity to the rest of us not preaching to engage the crowd and hand out tracts. Many people we spoke to were grateful for the witnessing encounters. 

After another hour or so of preaching, we proceeded to the main beach promenade area where we once again encountered an absolute deluge of people soaking up the sun. We chose the overhead bridge overlooking the beach to do our preaching and stop the many surfers and beach-goers to hand out tracts and challenge them on their current belief system and also to present the gospel. We stopped many young people moving in groups, and once we handed out the million $ bill to one of them, the rest of the group predictably also wanted one which opened up the door to preach and warn young people in groups of 10 at a time. This also generated curiosity from other passer by’s who stopped to listen and we handed out tracts to them as well.

Team from L to R: Back Row – Donovan Nelson, Vernon Wagner, Timothy Brown, Nigel Titus. Front row – Riedewaan Samodien, Curtis Mathey.

After about 4 hours or so of non-stop witnessing, open air ministering and handing out tracts, the weary but satisfied team took some time out at the local KFC where we shared our individual witnessing encounters and encouraged one another.

We thank God that when it comes to evangelism, the results are in God’s hands! We just have to be faithful to preach the gospel, the true Biblical gospel with a loving and compassionate heart, and not to worry about the outcome as salvation ultimately belongs to the LORD!

We thank God for an amazing time, and looking forward to our next trip!

You can view the photographs from the outreach at this slideshow.

Summer4Souls™ Outreach in Cape Town

Our out-reach campaign for the summer gathers momentum this week with 2 planned evangelism events. On Wednesday the 16th December 2009 (public holiday), we will be at the Sunrise Circle flea market @ Muizenberg from about 12pm onwards. We will then move onto the general Muizenberg beach area and eventually end up at Surfer’s Corner. We anticipate ending at about 5pm. One2One witnessing and open air preaching will be on the menu.

The fact that Wednesday is Reconciliation Day creates a perfect springboard to talk to strangers and beach-goers about the necessity of being reconciled to God. It’s also getting closer to Christmas Day, so talking to people about their understanding of the day and what it means to them will also lead to great witnessing encounters.

Let me know if you are available – We will post a Praise Report and photos on our blog site after the event. Details of the 2^nd trip will be communicated soon.

Your supplication, as always, is appreciated.

Blessings

Nigel Titus

legintitus@gmail.com

Cellular 083 642 4454