First Friday

Including myself, we were a group of six. Our mission was to evangelize the lost with the Gospel of salvation. Focused on a three by three grid of street blocks, we were located in downtown Macon.

Sharing the gospel is a responsibility of every believer. Christ calls us all to be His ambassadors. In light of this realization, I head downtown with a group of other kingdom-preaching believers the first Friday of each month with our hearts set upon the salvation of lost souls. As we carry out the Great Commission, we remember that we are called to love our brothers as ourselves. Applied here, we are to be open with and sensitive to those we minister to on the streets. We should come with the agape love of Christ for all men, but we ought to be prepared for Satan’s attempts to derail our efforts. The Son of God communicated this to the disciples as He sent them out as His witnesses, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

In order to cover more territory and provide greater contact opportunities, we split our group of six into three pairs. The first couple Mr. O and I bumped into was Patricia and Alfonzo. Patricia shared with us her rough past. In addition to recent vandalism and severe abuse, she suffered the tragic loss of her husband two years ago. He was a chef at a restaurant up north. One day while he was working two young people came in, ate, and then began to argue. They carried their argument outside and pulled guns on each other. The two of them shot and killed one another, but not before a stray bullet smashed through one of the windows and found its way into Patricia’s husband.

Patricia grew up as a Catholic. Mr. O pointed out to me afterward that many Catholic-rooted people on the streets tend to have a respect for spiritual things and an interest in learning more about them. Patricia was one such person. She listened very attentively – Alfonzo was not overly intrigued – and showed definite signs of comprehension. It was obvious that she was following what we said to her. As Mr. O took her through the Ten Commandments, she readily admitted that she was a sinner in need of a Savior. Please pray for Patricia that the Lord will bring into her life more believers who will call to her with the gospel. Pray for her safety as she struggles with the dangers of living as a single woman.

Mrs. C and my friend J were another pair who were able to join us for the evening. One of their most prominent contacts was Sobrina. From what we were able to garner about their interaction, Sobrina was a young woman who realized and admitted to her sin. She saw clearly her need for Christ and his atoning work. After leading her through the gospel, they said that they could tell she was at the brink of salvation, but was not quite ready. Please pray for Sobrina that she will read the tract(s) she received, that the Holy Spirit would relentlessly convict her of her sin, and that the Lord would call her to Himself.

One man Mr. O had the opportunity to speak with alone was Bill, a mid-60ish diabetic in a wheelchair resting on the sidewalk. Bill was not a Christian, but he had no objections to Christianity. That is a rare combination on the streets. He had absolutely no problems with the Christian gospel message of salvation, but he had a problem with himself. He said that it was entirely possible for him to believe who Christ was and to accept that he was a needy sinner; the problem was that he was “who he was” and could not change. He seemed to have the perspective of a works-based salvation; he did not realize it was the power of God that would change him and not his own will. Mr. O explained very clearly that becoming a Christian meant becoming a new creature in Christ, that Christ could put away Bill's old lifestyle. Bill, like Sobrina, was so very close to obeying the call of Christ, but the Lord’s timing had not arrived. Please pray that Bill would come to know the perfect power of God and that he would be given the gift of belief. I thought of the scribe that Jesus talked with in the book of John as I listened to Bill and Mr. O talk - he accepted what the Lord’s message was, but wasn’t yet ready.

Lastly, I was able to have a great discussion with Thomas and James. Thomas, I believe, is a truly born-again believer, but James is not. James had recently had an experience with a Catholic priest that ostracized him from anything religious. In his mind, it seemed that the two belief systems were similar enough that to reject one is to reject the other. He was loaded with questions, and since it sounded like he had been previously exposed to the gospel, I focused on answering his objections to Christianity as best I could. His first question was the difference between religion and faith. The Lord put what I found to be the perfect example into my mind as I explained that religion is what the Pharisees had – the outward works. Faith is a matter of the heart and stemmed from belief, not will-power. The Pharisee example caught his attention and from that he dived into a couple questions about Communion which I – actually with some helpful input from Thomas – was able to answer for him. I left him with a Bible tract and a Gospel of John (the best tract of all). Please pray that Thomas would grow in his faith and that James would be given the faith necessary to believe the hidden things of God. James reminded me of Nicodemus – willing, but not understanding.