Year in Review, Part 3

My brother,
Abe,
sharing
the gospel
with
whoever
will listen!
(Memphis, TN
Spring '07)









Throughout the spring, various members of our family enjoyed going to the Springfield square with some of the folks from church who go there faithfully every Friday night to talk with anyone who will listen... about God, life, if the Bible is true, social issues of the day, President Bush, drugs, gangs, creation science, homelessness.... Sometime conversations get really interesting!

At the square, you never know who you are going to meet, or what people hanging out for the evening are going to say or want to talk about. But, the goal is to bring their thoughts to what life is really all about, Who made them, and if they are ready to answer to their Maker someday.

When desiring to share the gospel with someone, I often think of the story of the woman at the well in the Bible. Everyone else ignored the Samaritan woman as she went about her daily tasks. After all, she was of low class, messed up... in short, the Jews didn't talk to people like her.
But Jesus stopped.
He didn't hit her over the head with a fire and brimstone sermon. He didn't bring up her five husbands first. Rather, He showed interest and concern for her as a person. He engaged her in conversation. Then He went straight for her heart. He knew that she was lonely, hurting, and empty... and that is exactly were He steered the conversation. Did she want living water, He asked? He aroused her curiosity... Soon she was asking to know more, to know what he thought about her religion's teachings...
And a few minutes later, she was running back to the city to tell the men that she had found the Messiah. "Come see a Man that told me all things that I ever did!"

That's the goal when we share the gospel at the square -- to bring people to realization of their lives before a holy God, and then to point them to Living Water.

Below: It's the tradition to spend a few hours at the Square, and then head over to Braum's for ice cream and "de-briefing" before heading home. Someone always has quite a story about an experience with someone on the street!

First picture: Some of the dads, in the back ground, some of the girls
Second picture: Some of the younger guys, relating the experiences of the night