Luke 10:2 Ministries

We are preparing today to head to University of Nebraska in Lincoln to share some Good News.  Today we rest and prepare.  Lord willing we may be in Colorado by next week.  The Lord is pressing a very busy schedule into our calendar and it is joy to serve our King sharing the Truth to young people on college campuses.  I have been having to drive four to six hours daily to preach for the last few days and it is quite tiresome coupled with the cold weather and preaching.  The temperatures are ranging in the low forties right now and even though it looks like winter is just around the corner, we are pressing on.  Weather has not deterred the students for the last couple of weeks.  We have preached in freezing rain, snow, and sun but the students continue to gather.  I have had many conversations with students after preaching about their walk with God. Many are burdened over their sin and others are encouraged by us coming to their campus and preaching the Gospel open air.  We have also run into opposition from students, campus ministers, and administration, however, we continue to share.  Some of the campuses seem so dark and spiritually dead. So many students have been raised with little or no parental supervision and guidance.  So many students are just throwing their lives away to the devil and are proud of their wickedness.  Many do not want God in their lives and hate us for even telling them about His grace and mercy.  Please pray for souls to be saved and God to be glorified as we continue on.

btw, check out Lisa’s notes if you get a chance.  I pray that it is an encouragement to you.

Minnesota seemed to have a strong Muslim influence on the campuses that we visited.  The Muslims that I preached to and spoke with are so offended when I explain to them about Jesus being God.  Muslims are trying to be good enough to get to heaven so using the law while witnessing is not a problem. The problem arises when we claim Jesus Christ as the only way to heaven. Additionally, Muslims will not accept that the Bible is inerrant and often times point out that with all the English versions in print that there are no accurate translations…

While having preached with Pastor John Chisham on many occasions in the past including NYC, MN and SD last year and also FL, we joined forces again in MN and SD this year.  He is a bold witness reaching out to college students at Southwestern State University in Marshall MN, pastors a church, and does open air preaching.

The sun came out while we preached in Vermillion and many of the students stayed for hours to listen to Good News.  On the second day at the Vermillion campus, we had not intended to preach. Pastor Jon Lane and a brother Ivan joined me on the campus.  All we had hoped to do was hand out Gospel tracts.  The Lord would not have it that way, He instead had a professor let his class out to hear the preaching and ask questions.  Jon and Ivan went in for a little lunch and as he left me all I was doing was handing out tracts, but when he returned there was a crowd listening to to Gospel!  Praise the Lord.

On the third day, John Chisham joined me at South Dakota State University in Brookings. At one point, there was much opposition.  A young Asian woman that spoke broken English walked up to me and looked me in the eyes and said,” The Holy Spirit is giving you the words to speak.  He is directing you and shodding your feet.  Allow me to pray for you!”  Wow, did she pray.  I looked up after the prayer and had so much strength I could weep just thinking about how precious it as for her to pray for me.

Here is a note I received from a young man at a campus I preached on…

Hello Shawn,

You probably will be reading this amongst a bunch of hate mail……hopefully you’ve been getting hate mail; it indicates that you are doing something right!  I’ve always wondered what would happen if you turned the lights on in a bar, I guess people would get upset and leave.  You demonstrated that well today.  You shown light on our campus and people got angry and left.  Its sad how we pray to the lord of the harvest to send out workers but then get angry when our prayers get answered.  You are an answer to my prayers, you aren’t the type of person I envisioned would come and preach the gospel, but that just goes to show how awesome our God is!  I was standing there in awe of how christians (ones that I’ve respected while in college) were so angry with you.  Christians who have lovingly encouraged me to read the Bible I saw today were angry with you.  It’s ironic how one person responded that they can’t remember the last time they read their bible when I asked, yet they were angry with you.  I will be finishing reading the bible for my first time at the end of this year.  I’ve got a book called For the Love of God by D.A Carson which leads you through the old testament once and new testament twice.  I highly recommend that you not only just tell people to read the Bible but encourage them to get the book by D.A. Carson to lead them through it.  After reading the bible nearly everyday this year I have begun to see that the Gospel is offensive to those who are dying.  Jeremiah and the prophets were disliked because they spoke the truth, instead of humbleness and repentence, israel displayed anger and resentment.  The gospel is gracious to those being saved.

I was suspicious of you at first but when you boasted in you iniquities I knew you were legit….Paul boasted to the Galations of his iniquities when he was criticized for boasting.  You acknowledged that your sins were great…..hallelujah!  What does that say about our God?  You reminded me today of how great our GOD is!

As you pray for our campus, pray that we don’t remain idle.  When David sinned with Bathsheba it started because he was suppose to have gone to war, but he stayed in Jerusalem.  Then he saw Bathsheba…..and so on.  The fact that he remained idle is what led up to his sin.  I think that’s what has happened on this campus.  We have so many nice Christian groups, but few of them have a leader that is willing to offend someone for the sake of the gospel.  We are leading nice christian groups but are still “idle”.  We teach the love of God, the grace of God, even the ten commandments, but yet we can never fear the Lord because there’s nothing that we teach about him that is to be feared.  Prov1:7 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  With out proper fear we are just fools that know a bunch of facts.  John 8:31 says “if you obey my teaching, you really are my disciples.  You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  First we must obey, THEN we will know the truth…..its human nature to want to know and then do.  It’s no wonder why we are given the Holy Spirit…to crush our human desires!  Two years ago our college pastor whom I consider to be my rabbi said “if you’re not reading the Bible and you call yourself a Christian, SHAME ON YOU!”  God is so gracious!  I finally realized that God’s gonna show grace in the way He wants it to be and we will never see it (or see it very little) if we only look for it in the way we want to receive it.

I’ll be praying for you and your work and that you don’t get thrown into a well.  I graduate in december and am looking into graduate school but I need God to confirm it by shutting the door or opening up another.  I sometimes wonder if I could do more for Gods kingdom if I wouldn’t continue school, but I haven’t found a wife or have a family to support so its so convenient right now to stay in school.  Remember to pray for me and Gods guidance for my future.  Thanks so much for being bold for the Gospel….there is no greater love.  I will praise Jesus for you and your life.

And here is another note from a student:

Shawn,

Hi! I hope you’re doing well.

Thanks for coming to (name of campus withheld to protect to student) campus and sharing the gospel. I’m sorry I was critical and proud when I asked you questions. (Even if I didn’t appear that way, I know I was some of the time.)

You were a great example of courage and self-control under fire, and you definitely got people talking–whether they liked you or not! Thank you for your time and your kindness to those who had questions. Both will go a long way.

Stay warm and may God bless you!

And here is another note from a student:

Hi,

I just wanted to write you and kind of say thank you in a way. I am a born again believer too.. and the last six months or so I drifted away from God and His ways.I feel like this was God at work in my life. When I got into the conversation with you at first I was defensive and wanted to argue with you, but as soon as I heard what you were saying I agree with what you were saying. The feeling I got from listening to you was warmth, I felt like I was back in My Fathers arms again. I just wanted to thank you for relighting that fire inside of me. I may not agree with your approach of sharing the gospel, but you are speaking truth, which is great! I have been praying for you through out the day and the students that you got a chance to talk to. I pray that God will give you the words and wisdom, and that the students would have an open heart to what God wants them to hear. Thanks so much!! I just want this email to be an encouraging email and an email that glorifies God!!! God bless.

and one more:

Hi Shawn,

I was on campus yesterday and briefly saw you on campus around noon.  I wasn’t so much listening to your message (as I came to know Christ back when I was in college in 1990), but was watching the crowd.  I’m sure you had your hands full with the number of close-minded people who wanted to argue with you.  But I was watching the people who were listening, really listening.  As I walked away (had to get to work) I was led to pray for the people there, but particularly for a guy who was sitting on a bicycle about halfway back through the crowd.  I’m not sure who he was or why I needed to pray for him, but I did.  I believe God was using you to speak directly to him.

I also felt God was leading me to tell you this:
You are making a difference.  What you do is hard work, work that not everyone is willing or equipped to do.  While you are going to meet a lot of resistence, please do not ever give up or lose heart.  Because while you most likely won’t see immediate results of people coming to Christ right there in the middle of campus, you are doing the huge step of planting the seed.  A seed that will nurture and grow in God’s time.

Thank you for all you do.  Stay strong in the Lord.

As I write this, we have just completed a wonderful week of visiting and staying with my folks in a suburb in Chicago, Illinois.  It was beautiful. I did get the opportunity to hand out tracts and preach throughout the week, so that was surely a bonus.  We got to see my brother Brad and his daughter Christa, my 73 year old mother who has a great career as a hospice nurse and took some days off to spend with Lisa, Will, and myself, and my brother Todd who is a stay at home son, taking care of my dear father who has Alzheimers.  He is 82 years old and doesn’t know his surroundings nor does he recognize people, including his wife, (my mom) of 53 years.  He is a shell of the man he once was and it is painful to see him fade away with this disease.  My mother and my brother Todd continue to care for his needs and really who knows how much longer he will live.  We had some laughs and great meals together.  It was a much needed time to slow down a bit and just relax.  We were able to stay in the Walmart parking lot with our RV the entire time we stayed and that was a real blessing.  It was flat, and quiet. And looking out our windows was a pond, which Lisa liked.

You know, that question, “when will I die?”, continued to pound at me while we visited my parents for the week.  I talk about death daily while going out and witnessing, but it was even more profoundly impacting me this last week with the condition of my sweet Dad.  I could die in my sleep, or while driving my car, while eating, or even while preaching.  It could happen at any time.  Additionally I now think, what am I going to do with the time that God has given me?  I heard a man talking to some young people at church during a children’s message and wouldn’t you know it, he was asking them about what they are going to do with the time that God has given them.  We all have the same amount in terms of minutes in a day.  But really, what are we going to do with that precious time?  Will we build up our kingdom on this earth? Will we be lazy or self centered with our time?  Will we esteem others better than ourselves with our time?  Will we share the Good News of Jesus Christ with our time?  What will we do with our time?  Time is ticking away and it surely cannot be slowed down or taken back.  In fact, now that I am 47 years old I have to truly declare that time seems to be going faster and faster all the time!  So, really, who knows how much longer any of us will live. But what are we doing with the time that God has given us.  I suppose to a certain extent we all live as though we have a million more tomorrows.  I suppose we all live as though we have plenty of time.  But I really wonder how many of us are truly right with God.  Will God say to you on that day when we face Him in all His glory, “well done good and faithful servant?  Or, will He say to you, “away from me you doer of iniquity, I never knew you?”  You can either bow your knee now in brokenness and belief, or bow you knee later in judgment and condemnation.  Please don’t waste your time on this earth.  Please don’t squander your life away for worldly pleasures!  You have one life to live, what will you do with it?   Will you live as though you have a million tomorrows on earth and selfishly and proudly live for yourself?  Or, will you live for the King of Kings?  The name that is above all names, Jesus Christ, the Messiah who came to take away the sins of the world.  What will you do?  Are you ready to meet your maker?  Are you justifying your sin and playing russian roulette with your eternity?  Are you ready to die?  Here’s a GREAT question to ask: Are you looking forward to Judgment Day? If you are in Christ, you can look forward to that day! Eternity lasts a really long time…the Bible says you will spend it in either one of two places and God has a place ready for you in either heaven or in hell.  “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. What will you do?

I am about to go out today and preach at Mankato State University here in southern Minnesota in freezing temperatures and…it is snowing.  The rest of the week doesn’t look like it will be much warmer.  And next week we pray we will be in South Dakota and again, it is cold weather.  I just pray that the Gospel will go forth.  I am praying for a great awakening on these campuses and in this country.  I pray that if we encounter cultural christians that they will become broken before the Lord and they will be born again by His grace.  I am praying for the Holy Spirit to move in a measurable and tangible way.  Lord, may you be glorified, for you deserve all the glory, and all the praise, and all the honor.  Let us praise His Holy Name and exalt Him. I pray for revival.

Schedule for the next two weeks looks something like this, Lord willing:

Monday Mankato MN

Tuesday Marshall MN

Wednesday Winona MN

Thursday St. Cloud MN

Friday U of MN

Saturday streets of Minneapolis

Monday Vermillion SD

Tuesday Vermillion SD

Wednesday Brookings SD

Thursday Sioux Falls SD

Friday Lincoln NE

Here is a brief update of some of the campuses that I visited over the last couple of weeks.  Most of the campuses I have preached on lately I have gone to by myself.  I have to be surrendered to our Lord in prayer and trust that He will not only bring the people to hear, but also allow me in love to share this Good News.  He protects me and directs me.  I just preached at Northern Illinois University where one man spit a huge gob of spit on me.  The crowd even objected when the man did this.  It was down right dirty. One young Catholic man stayed almost the entire time and at the end he said that I never shared about Jesus!  Well, I said that is just not true.  In fact as I go to these campuses I record what I say because so many false claims are made about what I have said.  I explained to this young man that if he wanted he could contact my email and I would download the 5 ½ hours of preaching to him and he could listen for himself as to how many times I actually shared the Good News of Christ, His precious blood, the forgiveness, the joy, the absolute surrender that he commands.  I haven’t heard from him though. Strangely many times I am confronted in lies and when I have evidence to prove the contrary to what people are saying, then all those falsehoods are seemingly no longer such strong arguments. So, I record messages and often times record by video as well.

At Buffalo University in Western NY state, I met up with a wonderful Christian student of which I met last year.  His name is Lijo.  He was there almost the entire day while I preached, witnessing and handing out tracts.  At one point a student that was there listening for quite some time approached me and said, “I GET IT!”  I get it.  It is absolutely wonderful to see students understand the Gospel on a not only mental level but also on a spiritual level.  What a blessing.   Many students stuck around at the end of the day and asked really great questions.  I preached on this campus in front of the student union building where a walking bridge crosses from one building to the next.  The crowd in front and behind was hostile and angry at times but twice as I preached I noticed that a real calm a quite attentive crowd was gathered above in the enclosed walking bridge overhead.  You never really know who might be listening.  Recently on one campus, I heard a shout from one of the dorm rooms close to where I was preaching.  The student yelled, “shut up nobody is listening to you!”  Hmmm, I thought, this student is listening to me otherwise they wouldn’t tell me to shut up.

Cortland State was an exciting campus to preach on mostly because I had been preaching for quite some time and a police officer came over to me and asked if I had permission to preach.  I replied that no I didn’t but I didn’t believe that it should be necessary for me to get any type of permit.  She asked if I would at least go and tell the administration that I was there, so I did so.  I met up with a man in administration that appeared to be very opposed to me being there and he explained some of the policies of the campus.  At any rate, he wasn’t very supportive it seemed, but I went out and continued to preach. A nice sized crowd gathered. My throat was getting very dry and I was thirsty and wouldn’t you know it, that same man that seemed so opposed to me came out with a bottle of water and set it at my feet.  I was very humbled and thankful for that, mostly because it came from this man.  I guess you never really know who is and isn’t listening, or supportive, or thankful… but I do know that we must press on.  It seems like lots of questions are coming up lately that have to do with sex. Young people have so many questions and so few answers.  If a preacher wanted, he could dwell on these discussions for hours and hours, but in reality we need to go to the root of the problem and that is the wickedness of man.  Our hearts are corrupt.  WE ARE NOT GOOD.  We need new hearts and new thoughts and new desires.  Lasciviousness is rampant here in the U.S. but so is wicked heart disease (and frankly, so is foul mouth disease).  We can treat the symptoms or we can treat the cause.  We need to treat the cause!  Man’s sin is hated by God.  He is giving us a way to be forgiven, and He demands a response.  We must obey Him when He commands all men everywhere to repent and to trust in Jesus.  God can make us born again but we must respond in repentance and faith.  Frankly, I don’t meet a lot of people that want to respond to the Good News in the way that the Bible commands us to.  Christianity is NOT an “attach this Christian religion to your already sinful life” system or program.  God wants us to be broken before Him and be willing to lay our lives down for Him.  His love is so immense and broad.  It is a deep love that compares to nothing this earth can offer.  The joy in knowing Him and believing Him is indescribable.  I thank the Lord for his kindness and mercy.  I thank Him for allowing me, a sinner, to die to myself and carry my cross daily.  Amazing grace! Thank you, Lord.  I pray more people can know Him! I pray for revival on campuses here in the United States.

As I walked up to preach on a rainy cool day at Northern Illinois University, I saw a man in the middle of the courtyard handing out Gospel tracts and witnessing boldly to students as they were walking from class to class.  We had a conversation prior to me beginning to preach, and he became very concerned to hear that I was going to be lifting up my voice to preach the Gospel.  I explained that I had come to this campus to have possibly hundreds of people hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Well, as I preached from 11 a.m. to almost 5 p.m., I could see him in the midst speaking to individuals in the crowd and sharing!  God, as always, brought people to hear the Good News.  Hundreds!  It was a great day.  I even thanked the crowd that stood there most of the day in spite of the rain and cold weather.  One young man that professed to be an atheist came back after having gone to class with a muffin and a nice hot drink for me!  His name was JP.  There were so many questions and lots of opposition.  Later the young man that I met that was witnessing to students when I walked up actually called and apologized for thinking that what I was doing was not going to be “effective”.  He was so humble and kind and eager to serve Jesus Christ.  What a nice thing for him to do by contacting me.  I know that Lord is using this young man and I hope to meet him again as souls will be saved from his bold witness.

Rehoboth Christian Fellowship in Pennsylvania is the church that gave us the motorhome last year. They invited me to preach there a couple of Sundays ago.  I preached on prayer and exhorted the brethren to be on their knees and used many historical and biblical references to encourage these wonderful saints during this Lord’s day message.  This church has been so kind to us and supportive and I am humbled by their amazing hospitality and support.  It is beautiful to worship with these brothers who are so broken before God and display His grace in their lives through their family lives and willingness to reach out to sinners.  Pennsylvania is a beautiful state to drive through.  It is in many ways like going back in time, so to speak.  Farms that are a couple hundred years old, rolling hills, winding roads, Amish folks driving horse drawn buggies…

University of Cincinnati was a wonderful campus to preach on – great acoustics and extremely large crowds.  The students are pretty used to preachers visiting their campus, but still want more it seemed.  Huge crowds gathered as I preached on this campus for two days preaching the wickedness of man, the holiness of God, and the love of Jesus Christ.  A film crew was there, and as it is at most colleges I was interviewed by one of the reporters.  He seemed curious that I don’t seem to be too concerned while the students push and spit and shout obscenities at me.  I explained that by the grace of God, I am allowed to share this message and the people’s response does not affect what I say or how I share it. I do not have to “earn” the right to speak to these people.  The right was established when Christ poured out His blood for us on the Cross and commanded us to tell all the world.  I am not making the students stay, but thankfully, hundreds choose to stay and listen. I believe the Lord is protecting me and is giving me discernment as I preach.  I explained to the reporter that I just trust the Lord! At one point on this campus I thought “wow, this crowd is getting enormous!”  I was thinking this while only looking forward.  I turned to look around to see if I had some room to move around, and as I turned I was stunned to see all the people standing and sitting listening to the Gospel of Jesus Christ behind me as well.  When I see large crowds like this, I try to make sure that I share the Gospel message as often as possible so they will hear the truth before leaving.  In a day on a campus I would estimate that the Gospel is shared at least twenty times to hundreds of people. Sometimes I will hear students say that they have already heard this and that I need to stop repeating myself!  At least I know they are listening.

Sinclair University is a college in downtown Dayton, Ohio that evidently overreacted quite a bit to a group of preachers last spring.  I had no idea prior to going to the campus to preach with a good brother named Judah Marx that three young preachers were arrested and one of them was even tackled in the process of these arrests by a police officer for preaching the Gospel!  Most of the charges were dropped from these arrests it turns out, but a couple still remain and will soon be hopefully resolved.  So I got to this campus prior to Judah arriving and began to preach and not having any idea of the arrests from last year.  It was so interesting.  People were looking at me like they were looking at a ghost.  They seemed shocked, but I kept preaching… a police officer approached me and tried to explain what the policies were that I was breaking but contradicted himself several times.  I listened intently but really felt bad for him.  He was trying so hard to be official and intimidating.  I obeyed what he asked me to do and went inside the administration building and registered with the administration but afterwards asked him if I could go back out and preach and he said yes.  So it was very strange but good that we all got our way. Judah evidently will go back to this campus several times in the future, Lord willing, and so he was thankful that we ended up getting the green light to share Good News.  At the end of the day while wrapping things up I had a wonderful conversation with a young girl who is getting baptized in a couple of weeks. She was really excited, but in conversation she said that her pastor knew that she is fornicating with a young man, and he is still going to baptize her. I asked her why she wasn’t willing to be born again,  She said, “I have been born again four times.”  I explained to her that you cannot be born again, again, again, again. Jesus only said that you must be born again!  Well, too many sins were being admitted to while we talked about her walk with her so called Saviour Jesus Christ.  This young girl is being told that she was on her way to heaven by her pastor but in reality she is on the highway to HELL unless she repents and is born again.  Sad, but this is really a message that is central to the theme that is rampant in the American church.  Easy believe-ism is the mantra and the drums of time are beating while sinner after sinner will stand before the just judge of the universe when they die to the surprise that their eternity will be spent in HELL.  I confronted this young girl in love and brought her through the Scriptures.  After we finished, she thanked me for everything we talked about.  A young man listened as we talked so I pray that he will get saved as well.  At one point though, he admitted that he looks at porn, has sex outside of marriage, he lies, he smokes pot, he is a thief because he downloads internet music and doesn’t pay for it, and he gets drunk, etc… He also said that he is a Christian.  I leave all of this in the Lord’s hands. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed”. John 8:36

May the Lord bless you as you read your Bible and pray.  I pray that you can boldly share the Good News of Christ with someone in your life today.  I pray that that person you share with will turn from their sins and trust Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.  Please continue to pray for our family as we travel to campuses.  The Lord has provided for all our needs but as usual we are trusting that He will burden your hearts with continuing to support us financially as we serve our King.

Our travels have begun again as colleges are now in full session.  Some of the campuses and states we hope to go to in the next couple of weeks are: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, S. Dakota, and Nebraska.  That should bring us up to about the end of October.  From there we hope to continue west as we did last year.  We got out to California too late to preach on campuses there because Christmas break had already started.  This year we hope to get to Washington state, then Oregon, and leading up to Christmas, California. This is a large undertaking for us but of course it is nothing for God.  We trust He will lead and we have committed to following Him.

We have spent the last three weeks preaching in Pennsylvania and Vermont.  It has been amazing to say the least.  God is really working and we are thankful to be able to share this Good News.  We have had extremely large crowds and much discussion relating to the sin of man, the holiness of God, and the atoning blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  We entertain discussion on all types of topics including, the age of the earth, sexual morality, God’s sovereignty, repentance, being born again (John 3:3), the power of the Holy Spirit, our own personal testimonies, and all the while making efforts to preach in love.  You can tell students that you love them but generally they insist that you don’t.  We can tell them how wonderfully forgiving God is and they reject the Truth for a lie.  Our biggest encouragement continues to be the atheists.  Many times they tell us they appreciate that we are out there! Unfortunately most of the students we run into insist that they are Christians even though they are not born again, they still enjoy sin, and most believe that because they are good enough that they will go to heaven.  We try to tell them that is not what the Bible says. If it was, Jesus would not have had to suffer, die and be resurrected. If it was, there would be no need of the Gospel.  In fact, we tell them, the Bible says the opposite: “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Romans 3:10

We generally have many wonderful conversations with the students during and after we preach – especially if we have enough laborers with us on the campuses. It has been a blessing having the Texas boys, and of course Vincent from South Africa, going on the road with us.  We  also recently had folks from two different churches in Pennsylvania join us on the campuses for several days. One day at Penn State, two students followed us all to our cars because they could not get enough info on who Jesus is. Another time at Penn State, I had asked the students if anyone was hungry, so a few went with me to the cafeteria, we ate pizza together, and talked about the Lord.

At Lock Haven University, the crowd was so large and loud that we had to move.  It turned out great because the ones that really wanted to hear followed us and we could address the individual concerns a whole lot better.  In fact, at Lock Haven on the second day it rained “cats and dogs”.  But it did not deter the students. We still had a nice sized crowd that stayed through the cold rainy weather for hours! We were blessed by that.

You know what is really interesting, is the students keep bringing up homosexuality and “gay marriage”.  We don’t bring it up but address it because they want to talk about it.  Two girls kissed in front of me while I was preaching and boasted of their sexual immorality. I pleaded with them to turn from their sin and trust the Lord.  I pray that they heard the truth of God’s Word and that they would obey their consciences.  “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

Wouldn’t you know, a college reporter came by and wanted to interview me.  He said, “Why do you say that they are all going to hell?’’ I said, “I do not say that they are all going to hell.  I say we all DESERVE to go to hell, myself included.”  he realized he had made the error.  But then he asked me, “why do you hate homosexuals?” I said that I don’t hate homosexuals. I want them to know about Jesus Christ and I care about where they will spend eternity. I told him that if nobody had told me the truth when I was in my sins, I’d have gone to hell and it would have been right and just for me to go there.   But that God Himself has made a way for all to be forgiven and that I need to tell others as well. I said that we are ALL criminals in God’s eyes for even our lying let alone the many other laws we’ve broken…” Well, he stopped the interview.  I have been so misquoted when I am interviewed and in this situation I am glad that the reporter decided to not continue.

At the University of Vermont I was told several times that it is the most liberal campus in the nation.  I don’t see how, frankly.  ALL the public Universities seem to me to be the most liberal.  I use God’s Holy standard as the gauge so it should be no surprise that I have come to this conclusion.  Some are angrier, some more confrontational, some more supportive, or more physical, or more convicted of sin… but ALL need to stop sinning and trust Jesus.  We need a great awakening in this country and I pray it starts on these college campuses.  Unfortunately again, most students love the darkness more than they love the light.  Most students love sin more than they love the Lord Jesus.  I warn them of their crimes committed against the Holy Judge of the universe and continue to tell them of their needed response to repent and trust Jesus and He will forgive them, make them new, and give them eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

We are so grateful for the time we were able to spend in New York City and New Jersey. I reflect on how so many people have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ.  We saw some fall under conviction, and there are those that have put their trust in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. The work there is not finished.  Many more people are in need of hearing the truth about Jesus Christ.  We press on towards the goal and we are thankful and humbled that we can offer our lives in this way to our King by being witnesses for His glory.  The message is foreign to so many.  We can’t beg people into a saving relationship with Christ, and we can’t offer them their “best life now”.  But what we do offer is eternal and undeserved.  I think back on all the souls that heard the Gospel in Battery Park, Union Square, subways and also on the ferry rides from Staten Island to Manhattan and back again. Starting out this summer we ran into so much opposition and conflict from police on the ferry.  By the end of the summer the police would just walk by as we shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

We have had to keep our eyes on the cross and allow the Holy Spirit to work through us.  As I have said many times before, we have had to learn that this may be the one and only time that people get to see what a Christian acts like under pressure so we ask the Holy Spirit to work through us and allow us to be Christ-like.  I think of all the times we have preached on the subways and many times we offer the only unchanging hope that these people will ever hear.  We have fed with words, and with food, and sometimes with money.  We have counseled and consoled, we have wept over these souls in prayer and tried to share Christ in love by the power of the Holy Spirit.  New York City is so very much in need of evangelism and our favorite fishing hole.  It is white for harvest! On most days that we were out witnessing, we had some Christians thank us for being there.  Many of them came out to join us to witness and hand out tracts as we preached.  As we would break at the end of each night, there would be several small clusters of people debating and discussing the message that was just shared and often times I would hear testimonies of believers saying that they had never witnessed like that before.  It is truly trench warfare and while we wage war on the ground, the spiritual battle that is waged around us is immense.  Souls are being battled for and the ultimate reward is where they will spend eternity.  The seriousness of this battle is very sobering and it brings us to our knees in faith and obedience.  We have nothing but Christ and His blood to trust in, and we surrender all so that He may be glorified.

I also reflect on how Pat Necerato got a group of us to preach and hand out tracts outside the abortion mill in Trenton, NJ.  He first went there and the security guard gave him a hard time just for handing out tracts outside the clinic.  He threatened him with arrest and made all kinds of false accusations about what Pat had said and done when the police arrived.  Pat had his video camera rolling and even though he explained to the police officer that he had broken no laws and the testimony of the security guard was false, the police officer said that Pat had definitely done something wrong to get the kind of accusations that were coming from the security guard.  No charges were made and the next week several of us went to the abortion mill and shared the Good News in love with many mothers who were going to have abortions as well as check-ups.  We refer to the mill as Planned Murderhood.  Our primary reason is to share the Gospel and secondarily we are led to try and persuade the women that what they are about to do is pre-meditated murder.

My time pastoring at the Great Commission Bible Church was a wonderful blessing.  I loved the opportunity to pastor this church even for a short while.  My commitment was three months – and three months are already gone.  I am encouraged by the faith in these men’s lives and I am encouraged as to how they are raising their families.  The fact that I was entrusted to lead a small group of believers shakes me to the core.  I have poured my heart and faith out and I pray that I was obedient to the Lord’s call in my life.  We will miss them so much this year as we travel.

A wonderful awareness has come upon me lately and it is really the work of God in my life.  You see, our daughter is going to college this year.  It is a Bible college with a total of around 250 students.  The question that I have had to keep asking the Lord is, “…have I been faithful to what you have entrusted to me Lord?”  “Have I obeyed your teachings and have I equipped this precious little girl with instruction as to how to surrender and have faith in you, Lord and fear and love you, God?”  I pray I have.  She seems determined to learn more about God and serving Him. She is taking the approach that she may only be there one year and wants to take advantage of all that she can learn.  When I looked in her eyes as I left campus I saw such hope and trust.  Trust like I have never seen before.  Believing that we have made the right decision and trust that she is still my little girl until she is married.  Prior to making the decision to allow her to go to school, she said to me, “Dad, I will not disappoint you…” My heart broke as she said that.  I think of my relationship with the Lord and how I do not want to disappoint Him.  Well, It seems like just yesterday that I was teaching her how to swim, ride a bike, and ski.  Our days surely are numbered and life is flying by at a break neck speed.  I remember when she came back from a Vacation Bible School at the Lake Placid Baptist Church many years ago saying that she had made a profession of faith in Christ. Oh, how proud I am of my little girl. Well, some of you must know what I am talking about anyway.  I am proud that she is walking with Christ and thankful for her faith.  Please keep her in prayer if you would.  We miss her dearly and we look forward to her school breaks.

We continue to pray for those of you who have asked us to pray.  We consider it a privilege to bridge the gap and intercede.  We look forward to hearing from you and are encouraged to see the Lord work in your lives.  Let us keep the faith and serve our King with joy.  God bless you.