Friday December 22

On Friday nights we have an evangelism team that meets in Downtown Houston. We meet from 9pm until midnight. Gene is a Local Leader for GNN and he leads the team with another Local Leader, Javier. We have anywhere from 10 to 25 people on the streets on any given Friday night. The temperature on the 22nd was down in the mid to low 40's, but we still had 16 people out in all.

We are never really sure what the night will hold for us as we head out, which gives us a sense of anticipation. For me this Friday night began in a sorta crazy way. It started when Gene and I stopped at a gas station on the way into downtown. Gene asked me to get him a Diet Coke and a particular type of gum. He said the gum would be right inside the door on a rack. Well, the gum wasn't there, so I had to search to find what I hoped was the right one. I then went to the refrigerated section for the drinks. I saw cokes of all flavors...except diet. I asked the lady working if they had them and I was just missing them, and she said, "We don't have diet coke." I opened the door to get him a Diet Pepsi, and they were all hot. I asked the lady about it and she said, "All of the refrigerators are broken." I pulled out the hot Diet Pepsi and hot Dr. Pepper and got us each a cup of ice. As I walked up to the counter, I dropped the Pepsi, but caught it with my knee. I tried to put all of these mishaps behind me as I headed to the car. I got in and began telling Gene of my exploits while unloading the bag. I just began to say, "I hope this isn't what our whole night will be like." When Gene opened the Pepsi. It sprayed all over him and the inside of the car. I think 1/4 of the bottle shot out. I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. We cleaned him and the car up and headed on our way (and I prayed the whole way!).

We met up with Patti & Kelli at Starbuck's, and then headed to our team meeting spot. Javier showed up a few minutes later, as did a homeless man who had some mental problems. Javier put himself between Patti, Kelli, me and this man, while Gene tried to talk to him. He left after a few minutes, muttering under his breath. Shortly after the man left more of the team showed up, and we had prayer.

We headed down to our corners to start handing out tracts. At first it was very slow, but we were still able to hand out tracts to the few people who were there. It also gave us some time to talk to the bar promoters who work on the corners as well. We don't engage them in conversations often, because they are working, but we do try to build a relationship with them. The ones we know by name, we pray for specifically each week. There have even been times they have brought prayer requests to the team. Because of their proximity to us they have heard the gospel many times, and we pray that it will take root at some point in their lives.

After we had been there for about 45 minutes, I gave a tract to a man walking by himself. He paused when he took it and began looking at it (this is a sure sign to start a conversation). His name was Michael. He was very amiable and listened to us, and we talked for about 15 minutes. Sadly, his conversation went like many others do, and his eyes were closed to the truth of God's word. Our conversation ended well, and he agreed to think about the things we discussed. Many people judge the success of an evangelism encounter by the seen "results"... ie: whether or not someone prayed a prayer. That is not the standard by which God judges success. He wants us to be faithful in witnessing and planting seeds. I don't need to focus on the "results" because I know that God gives the increase, and He will work in each person's heart according to His will.

After my conversation with Michael we handed out lots of tracts. I don't know the final count from our team, but I would guess it would be over 600. That is 600 seeds being planted in 600 lives. Many people have been saved through tracts, so it's exciting to think about what God can do in a person's life, just because I took the time to stick out my hand and say, "Did you get one of these?"



Here is a slide show of people from our team witnessing and handing out tracts downtown.