Compelled By Reality

Taking it to the Streets

Filed under: Blogging, Christianity, Evangelism

I woke up this morning and walked outside and felt something I had never felt on Sept 1 of any year. Cool air. The temperature dropped to 55 degrees and the day was just beautiful. We had our windows down in the car, our air conditioning off, and it was great.

To add to a great day I just got in from doing some street evangelism and I’m feeling completely exhilarated. I was in a group of 3 walking up and down the sidewalks of the plaza district from 10pm to midnight and it was awesome. The main 4 things that people do at the plaza that late at night are either going or coming to/from clubs, the movies, a restaurant or just walking around the plaza because there is a park there with fountains and its a great place to walk up to people and just start conversations.

And that’s exactly what we did. We talked to people who knew Jesus and people who were far from Him and offended by the name. We talked to Muslims, People in Cults, Catholics, Atheists, Agnostics and even a few drunks. Many people were open to hearing from us and the truth of the gospel was spoken and many seeds were planted. God also gave us specific words for a couple of people and people were really encouraged.

I heard someone once say that “Evangelism fires up intercession, and intercession fires up evangelism. We must not neglect either the prayer or the going.” And its so true. We are here at ihop, which is a prayer ministry, but its not only a prayer ministry although the first calling is to prayer (which should be every believer’s first calling). The prayer movement actually exists to fulfill the great commission.

Dale Anderson (Yes, THE Dale Anderson, Leader extrodinare of Intro to IHOP) said this “We must evangelize! Do it afraid if you must, but do it nonetheless.” We must mix our prayers with action and be active in the great commission while we are living this sermon on the mount lifestyle and pursuing God.