Monday

Ranae Peterson– Today, as I looked around at the faces of the New Yorkers, I remember thinking Wow, they look so sad. It was then that I prayed Lord use this tract to lead someone to you. Sometimes I would think I hope they take the time to read this tract that I am handing them and see the need of salvation. Some today didn’t want to accept what we had for them but some were receptive. I am looking forward to hearing how the Lord has used this day for souls to be changed–if not on earth, then when I get to heaven.

Tracts in Queens–Saturday, March 21

Sarah Downs – Today we went passing out tracts in the asian district of queen’s and it was an awesome experience. i had the opportunity to witness to two different young chinese men. the first wasn’t real sure what he believed and changed his story throughout our conversation. he said that he didn’t know if he’d go to heaven when he died, and that he thought that earth was hell. he got rather offended when i started talking about sin and pointed out the fact to him that he was a sinner. at that point he offered my tracts back to me so that he wouldn’t have to throw them away and walked away. after about 20 minutes he walked back and said that he would be interested in talking more, and that he’d come back after he ate, although we had to leave before he returned. The second guy’s name was patrick. he had just come over to the US from china a month previous. I went over the plan of salvation with him, and he seemed very interested and agreeable, but didn’t really seem to understand fully what I was talking about. So I gave him the address and phone number of the church in queen’s and encouraged him to look into it, which he said he would.

Crystal Husker – Passing out tracts in Queens was awesome! Seeing so many people not just take the tract, but slow down and read it as they walk. Some will avoid us like we are diseased, but others will come up and ask for a tract. The older Chinese people seemed to really enjoy getting information in their own language, and it was neat to be able give them that something they could read, but not only that they could read it, but that they would be reading the Gospel message. I think that was my favorite part of the trip so far.

Rachel Hoke and Peter Prusak – On a busy street in Flushing, Queens we were handing out tracts as a group. Many people who live in Flushing have brought their various cultures from around the world to New York. While walking around in Flushing, one could easily think they were in a foreign city.

I was given a huge stack of Chinese tracts to hand out. For probably the first 5 minutes I had passed out a few tracts, and then a man who had taken a tract came back and started talking to Peter and me. We talked about 20 minutes and then he went on his way.

While talking to the Chinese man I had seen an Italian man standing less than 5 feet away who had been listening to everything we were saying, so after Peter and I were done talking to the Chinese man. The Italian man made a comment about the picture of the cross that a local pastor had brought to draw a crowd.

We were able to share the Gospel with him, and he agreed with most of our points. He differed in that he struggles to believe that Jesus is God. He believes that Jesus was the perfect Son of God but not God himself. Through the Lord’s help, Peter and I were able to share many Scripture passages about Jesus being God along with other verses to answer other questions that were brought up. After talking the Italian man for a good amount of time, another man butted in the conversation and pretty much yelled at Peter and I for not being tolerant of other religions. After 7 minutes of the man constantly talking, Peter was able to distract the newcomer so I could wrap up the conversation with the Italian man we were talking to originally. I praise the Lord for giving me the opportunity to use the language skills I learned last year so I could talk to the Italian man without the other man knowing what we said! I was able to leave him with a verse. He has a tract with the church’s address and service times so pray he will attend a service!

Mackie Kerns – This has been an amazing trip in NYC. God has really done a work in my heart, just to see the people of New York and how lost they are. God is really doing a work here!

Open-Air Tract Distribution–Monday, March 23

The Lord has blessed us with so many opportunities to minister so far this week! Sunday we had the opportunity to minister at two different churches. Half of our churches ministered with the Bill Jones family at Tompkins Square Gospel Fellowship, while the other half journeyed to the other side of Manahattan to join the Matt Recker family in ministry at Heritage Baptist Church. In the afternoon, we went over to Union Square for some park evangelism. The opportunities to share the gospel were as diverse as they were numerous; some shared the gospel while challenging the locals in chess. Others simply took a seat in the park and struck up gospel-oriented conversations with folks. There were many reports of great conversations and open doors for the gospel.

Today we had the opportunity to minister at Faith Baptist Church in Queens, pastored by Vinny Sawyer. The group had an encouraging time with Pastor Vinny, as he instructed us for about an hour on evangelism. After our morning workshop, we spent the mid-afternoon doing some open air tract distribution and evangelism among a highly Asian population in Flushing. Again, the Lord gave opportunities for many gospel conversations!

Please pray with us that the Lord would continue to give us so many open doors!