good news!
the government just purchased the "Drake" hotel and strip club from the Hell's Angels.
this racy joint is on Princess and Powell-- smack dab in the middle of where all the girls are being prostituted.
we NiteLite girls, for the past two years, have been walking around that neighborhood a few hours every week. and every time we walk past the Drake, we pray that it will shut down. a few girl have gone INTO the club to order pops and pray, and were basically traumatized by all that they saw.
not ONLY is the strip club shut down, the entire building is being turned into affordable housing for the homeless! justice and mercy. hallelujah.
that's an example of winning plunder from the enemy after a victory.
of course, there is a concern in my head that the Hell's Angels now have $3.2 million on hand. maybe they'll donate it to the Salvation Army.
next target: the No. 5 Orange. this is another strip club owned by the Hell's Angels, just 4 blocks away from the Drake-- my next door neighbors. we've been praying that this place would shut down for just as long.
on our same block there is a Christian ministry called "Jacob's Well." they do dinners, Bible Studies, all kinds of things. they prophesied that the whole block would be owned by believers. when we moved in they were overjoyed, and it pumped up their faith a bit. they also prophesied that the No. 5 Orange would be a church. we've had similar pictures, during prayer, of the light bursting forth from the inside.
please pray for the women in my neighborhood.
speaking of all that good news:
how do we spread the good news?
what IS evangelism?
most of my life, i was taught that evangelism is this: you make friends with nonbelievers, and after a few years of hanging out with them, they'll ask you why you're so happy all the time.
okay, so i'm sure this works sometimes, but it certainly doesn't seem very proactive.
first of all, it's difficult to make friends with nonbelievers for the sole purpose of getting them saved, because you have an agenda. you hang out with them, but your motive is more than friendship, and they can tell.
secondly, this "sit back and be Christian" method of evangelism takes WAY too long! people die all the time, Jesus is returning soon, we've got no time to waste. if we all went out and made friend with a bunch of sinners today, most of them wouldn't be saved for years to come.
so i say, if you're already friends with nonbelievers, try and get them saved. relationship evangelism is not invalid.
HOWEVER-- since there is no fellowship with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14), and since Jesus is returning soon, perhaps we should focus our evangelism energy elsewhere.
do we undervalue cold-call evangelism?
what about asking someone if they want to be saved when you first meet them? or what about preaching on the streets?
evangelism is something that i have been struggling through for a couple years, and i've still only seen minimal fruit. what's it going to take?
the power of the Holy Spirit.
13 comments:
praise the Lord.
Exactly! 1 Corinthians 4:20 says, "For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power." When we begin displaying the miraculous power of God in our talk with and our prayers for the lost, people will be drawn to Jesus Christ.
John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard movement, wrote a book on this method of evangelism called "Power Evangelism". I love the following story about his reaction to powerless Christianity:
Shortly after John Wimber became a Christian, he became a voracious Bible reader. The Scriptures excited him. Finally, after weeks of reading about life-transforming miracles in the Bible and attending boring church services, John asked one of the lay leaders, "When do we get to do the stuff?"
"What stuff?" asked the leader. "You know, the stuff here in the Bible," said John. "You know, like stuff Jesus did-raising people from the dead, healing the blind and the paralyzed. You know, that stuff."
"Well, we don't do that anymore," the man said. "You don't? Well what do you do?" asked John.
"What we did this morning," replied the man. In frustration, John responded: "For that I gave up drugs?"
As long as we do not desire His power for our own glory, we can ask to be like Jesus, so we can preach the Kingdom of God like He did.
PTL!! I remember walking past the Drake at 4:30am on my way to work, praying that God's will would be done with that building...this is good news, indeed!!
Praise the Lord about the Drake, next stop is the No. 5.
BTW, it's Jacob's Well, not Ladder. And they're pretty cool. :)
Grace,
Aaron
hah. good call on the Jacobs Well thing, Aaron. duly noted, and edited.
I also wonder if we think of salvation as too small a thing. It is about the redemption of the entire world, the coming of the kingdom of God on earth, the restoration of justice, the tearing down of sin's strongholds. It is not simply a matter of a personal decision, although that clearly comes into it. It is not just a relationship between one person and their God; it is a relationship between one person, their God, and the rest of creation.
I'm rejoicing with you in this remarkable change of ownership! Halleluia!
It does encourage my faith for other places -- There is a Hustler club in Manhattan (52nd Street?) that I curse (like the fig tree) every time I pass it -- that its "business" would whither, shrivel and cease -- and that the Kingdom of God would be established there instead.
Kingdom Come! Will of God -- Be done!
jm
Hallelujah to all of that...share your thoughts on evangelism too.
blessings
Andrew C
It always amazes me how people on the other side of the Atlanticare coming up with exactly the same the thoughts as some of us on this side. Jesus said ‘Go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come in!’ Evangelism is friendship (of course it is) but it is also head on aggression! What did Mrs B say – “tear off their bandages and make them look!’
Next to our hall in Dartford is a kebab shop, close by are a Chinese take-away, an Indian take-away, a fish and chip shop and a southern fried chicken take-away. At the back of the hall is a notorious night-club. When we take up our appointment later in the year I’d like to open up the hall 2am on a Sunday morning and try out some ‘kebab shop raids’ – will it work? I don’t know but I feel compelled to try.
The devil isn’t shy when it comes to recruitment and our fervour should be greater than his.
“Come join our Army and make no delay the time for enlisting is passing away!’
Love and prayers
A
It always amazes me how people on the other side of the Atlanticare coming up with exactly the same the thoughts as some of us on this side. Jesus said ‘Go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come in!’ Evangelism is friendship (of course it is) but it is also head on aggression! What did Mrs B say – “tear off their bandages and make them look!’
Next to our hall in Dartford is a kebab shop, close by are a Chinese take-away, an Indian take-away, a fish and chip shop and a southern fried chicken take-away. At the back of the hall is a notorious night-club. When we take up our appointment later in the year I’d like to open up the hall 2am on a Sunday morning and try out some ‘kebab shop raids’ – will it work? I don’t know but I feel compelled to try.
The devil isn’t shy when it comes to recruitment and our fervour should be greater than his.
“Come join our Army and make no delay the time for enlisting is passing away!’
Love and prayers
A
that's awesome. that was a huge prayer request for some of us in our session. i know many a street combat night and prayer walking sessions when we would head over to the drake and pray over it.
once anthony, craig, luke and i spent an hour or so praying over the injustice that happened there - and stringer and i went back a week later to pray over it and it was closed. it remained close for like 6 months and then it opened up again.
but it seemed like a small victory at the time. anyways, i've continued to pray for justice at the drake - and i'm glad that it's closed.
woohoo.
yay.
yippie.
yahoo.
ptl.
foo.
Woo Hoo. PTL H.
Prayed for the closure of that place for ages. Justice is here. Amen.
Livi,
This is powerful stuff. You're a great writer. Keep it up.
Nealson
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