Post by Jesse Morrell on Jan 26, 2006 19:09:03 GMT -5
Here is my full, detailed report of the trip:
January 4th-24th
A friend of mine, Greg Gordon, arranged a series of meetings for me during the month of January. We started in Canada and then worked out way down through the states until we finally made it back to Texas. Here is a breakdown of the trip.
Toronto
Wednesday January 4th
We walked to a Jewish center that was right next to Greg’s house to preach. I didn’t know it was a Jewish center, I only knew that it was a great corner to preach at. A Jewish girl walked by and said sarcastically, “great, preaching Jesus outside of a Jewish center.” When I found out that she was Jewish I said, “If you want to read some great Jewish writings read Matthew Mark Luke and John. The writers of the New Testament were all Jewish.
As I was reading through 1 Corinthians 6:9 a young man started yelling at me. He asked, “Why would Jesus cry out on the cross, ‘my God my God why have thou forsaken me?” I explained how sometimes Christ would ask questions not for his own sake, but for the sake of everyone else. John the Baptist sent his own disciples to Jesus to ask if he was the Messiah. I do not believe John Baptist was questioning his previous announcement of Christ, but sent his disciples to Jesus for his disciple’s sake. Christ also once asked his own disciples “who do men say that I am”. Of course Christ was not worried about his own reputation; rather he asked this question for his disciple’s sake. And when Christ said “Why have thou forsaken me” He knew the answer, but he wanted to make sure that we know the answer. I said to the heckler, “the answer is because of you. It was your sin that Christ took upon himself.”
We then went to downtown Toronto and continued preaching. There were few hecklers and few listening, but it was freezing cold.
Friday January 5th
We went back downtown for open air. We received hecklers like “what kind of God would send someone to hell?” I turned it around and said, “What kind of man does it take to provoke God to such anger?” The fault of course is with man and not with God.
One man even started smoking pot right there in front of us out in public. An Ethiopian Christian man stopped and listened to the preaching for a while. He was deeply encouraged and went to buy us all coffee. He said that back in his country the Christians are very much alive, but here they seem to be very dead.
A Christian girl came up to us and encouraged us and said she really believed in what we were doing. We preached for hours until we finally wrapped it up.
Trenton
Friday January 6th
I was able to preach open air downtown and also to a small group of Christians at a local Church on “Holiness of Heart”. That audio sermon is available online at the website.
Ottawa
Saturday January 7th
Greg Gordon, Ricky Earle, and I went to Ottawa and connected with Chris Curry who runs Living Waters Canada. Despite the extreme cold, we were able to go out and preach on the streets.
Wearing three pairs of socks, I was able to preach for hours in the downtown Market place where there are restaurants and bars. A group of kids started yelling and mocking, but when I started preaching directly to them they got more serious. One walked all the way over to me trying to justify himself explaining that he was Catholic. I explained to him the true gospel about being saved from sin, death, and hell because of Christ and not because of self.
Another man came out of a store and started yelling at me. I engaged him and started going back and forth with him. I felt the words flow out of me, and I was harder on him then I’ve been with any other sinner. But I think that is what he needed because afterwards he came up and shook my hand and thanked me, though he was wearing a sweat shirt that had a cross with a big red X through it.
One heckler said, “But what about the priests who molest child? See, power corrupts!” I responded with, “That is why homosexuals should not be allowed in the clergy! It’s not the power which is a problem; it’s their perversion which is the problem!”
One kid who was walking by as I was preaching stopped and listened. Greg started talking to him and the guy said, “I can’t believe this. This is Jesse. I’ve listened to his sermons. I can’t believe this.” Amazingly, this guy was from New York but some how had heard some of my sermons before. And he just so happened to have been walking by as we were preaching open-air! Wow.
Around 11:00pm Greg Gordon and I went for a walk to find some food and possibly a good place to preach. We did find a pizza place that was open, and on our way back to the Hotel we saw a large crowd outside of a bar.
As soon as I stood up and said, “I’ve come out here tonight to preach the Word of the Lord” the crowd started humming and singing in harmony to drown me out. I thought of Whitefield who would at times encounter drummers and trumpeters playing to drown out his preaching. I said to the crowd, “Sing on Sinners! Sing on!” which actually made them all stop singing!
I was able to continue preaching as they started to swarm around me asking question. “What do you think about abortion?” “Its government assisted homicide.” After preaching the gospel of the Kingdom for a while eventually the crowd started to dwindle.
One girl kept going on and on in her blasphemous idolatry. “God wants us to come out here and have a fun time. God wants us to get drunk.” My response was, “You’re just as bad as a Buddhist!” to which the crowd roared “OOOHHHH! You can’t say that!” This of course was my intentional jab at the multi-cultural-ism and shows my insensitivity to idolatry. But the crowd which was once dwindling was now once again swarming around me as I was able to preach the gospel.
Some people would throw a snow ball at me, but praise God they didn’t throw any bottles or rocks. I would respond back “I pray that God doesn’t treat you the way you treat me.” Others would heckle and say, “What is wrong with getting drunk? Who am I sinning against?” and of course the answer is God.
We went down the street to another club where there was a line. I started to preach as a drunken Russian walked up and asked me for a cigarette. I said, “What do you want one of them for? It will only send you to hell quicker.” After much talking with him about sin and his soul, he said he wanted pray for salvation. He seemed genuine and sincere to me and so I got down off the box and prayed with him that God would save him.
Sunday January 8th
Chris Curry arranged it so that I was able to briefly speak at Living Waters Church and tell the congregation about the ministry.
That evening we were also able to speak at a halfway home for drug addicted men. We shared our testimonies of Jesus Christ.
Monday January 9th
We preached on the University of Ottawa for about an hour and a half until the campus security kicked us off because it’s a private college. But we were able to get a great deal of preaching in during that time, and reached lots of students and answered a great deal of questions. The audio to that preaching is on the website.
We went on the sidewalk where there was the main traffic flow and continued the open air preaching there. One man stopped and asked if he could speak. I was hesitant but Greg gave him the “go ahead”. In French he read out of 1Peter on the last days. Another man came up and asked us if he could preach. I said go ahead and he preached a hardcore message of repentance and a wonderful message of grace. I talked to him afterwards and he said he’s been open air preaching for a long time, and when he drove by and saw us he had to stop.
When we went to lunch, right before we entered the coffee shop a man doing radio interviews walked up to us. He asked us what we would look for in a politician for the upcoming election. We explained how we wanted to see a politician who would hold to the values of classic morality, and would seek to preserve it.
Toronto
Back in Toronto we went to the University of Toronto. To the glory of God I was able to preach for 4 ½ hours to a crowd of 100+ students. Hecklers said things like, “The disciples wrote the gospel in their old age and therefore cannot be trusted. They wrote them long after the actual events occurred” I responded back with, “All men who write their autobiographies write them in their old age long after the events took place. Does that mean you can’t believe someone’s autobiography? Do you discredit all biographies on those grounds or just the gospels?
Another heckler tried to justify fornication. He said, “But what if there was a religion that said fornication was ok?” I responded with, “well, then I would safely concluded that you would join that religion.” They accuse me of creating in my mind my own false God to fit my desires and hopes that there is something more to life and after death, when in reality they conclude that there is no God to fit their sinful desires of living however they want.
Though it’s illegal to speak against homosexuality in Canada, we did it anyways. But nobody came to arrest us!
Greg had some friends come to the University while we were preaching. One of them actually took the crowd over for me while I went to the men’s room. He preached open air for the first time! Praise God. Another one of Gregs friends watched the open air and was strongly convicted that he should start open air preaching. He is going to be an assistant to a well known preacher named George Vernon (Founder of Operation Mobilization), but said he is going to start open air preaching in the very same spot where I just was.
Syracuse, NY
In Downtown Syracuse Greg, Miles Lewis, Pastor Jason, and I witnessed and preached. Miles was able to work up two great crowds two different times without any tricks or gimmicks, just preaching. This area was very dark and ghetto, with much talk on drugs and sex and violence. I am very glad that we were able to plant seeds in a place where it looks like nobody labors.
Maryland
Sunday January 15th
I had the privilege of speaking at a Sunday Service of a Nigerian Church called New Covenant. I preached on “Earnestly Contend: for the Lordship of Christ.”
Ohio
Wednesday 17th
A friend of mine named Grady Gamble used to preach at the Mineral Area College when he was in their police academy. He told me that it would be good if I went there to preach. A group of us went, and started to preach during the class change, but the Dean came running up to me after about 4 minutes and said I had to leave and called security.
I talked to one Christian man who was part of the Administration and he said he would see about setting up the English System of free speech on campus, where they have a specific location and people only need to sign their name in a time slot. So though we didn’t get to preach, one administrator will work on making it an open campus since it is public.
Missouri
Saturday 21st
I was able to lead a team of 10+ people into the Kansas City night life for witnessing. The team was made up of both adults and teenagers. One man preached open air for the first time a few times that night and now feels that he had found his calling. He wants to start leading a team out there for witnessing and preaching.
We preached open air outside of a pub for hours. Many of those who went in and came out stopped to yell at us or ask questions. Many people heard the word of repentance that night!
Sunday 22nd
At Rose of Sharon Church Jeffrey Olver and I were able to share about our ministry to the Sunday school adult class.
That afternoon we took food to a park to feed about 200 homeless men and women. While the food was being handed out, I was able to preach open-air. Once just about everyone received their food, I went down a block to where a group of homeless people were hanging out and preached. Rather then dealing with them according to the circumstances, I dealt with them according to their sins and hammered home theft, adultery, lying, etc. One man, Ray, re-committed his life to Christ after the preaching.
That evening I spoke at the Youth Service of the Church a message on Walking With God. That audio is available online.
Oklahoma
Tuesday 24th
For 4 ½ hours Jeff and I preached open air on the University of Oklahoma to 50+ students. One student came up afterwards and how he could get a crowd to open air preach on campus. It seems almost everywhere we go God is raising up laborers for after we leave!
January 4th-24th
A friend of mine, Greg Gordon, arranged a series of meetings for me during the month of January. We started in Canada and then worked out way down through the states until we finally made it back to Texas. Here is a breakdown of the trip.
Toronto
Wednesday January 4th
We walked to a Jewish center that was right next to Greg’s house to preach. I didn’t know it was a Jewish center, I only knew that it was a great corner to preach at. A Jewish girl walked by and said sarcastically, “great, preaching Jesus outside of a Jewish center.” When I found out that she was Jewish I said, “If you want to read some great Jewish writings read Matthew Mark Luke and John. The writers of the New Testament were all Jewish.
As I was reading through 1 Corinthians 6:9 a young man started yelling at me. He asked, “Why would Jesus cry out on the cross, ‘my God my God why have thou forsaken me?” I explained how sometimes Christ would ask questions not for his own sake, but for the sake of everyone else. John the Baptist sent his own disciples to Jesus to ask if he was the Messiah. I do not believe John Baptist was questioning his previous announcement of Christ, but sent his disciples to Jesus for his disciple’s sake. Christ also once asked his own disciples “who do men say that I am”. Of course Christ was not worried about his own reputation; rather he asked this question for his disciple’s sake. And when Christ said “Why have thou forsaken me” He knew the answer, but he wanted to make sure that we know the answer. I said to the heckler, “the answer is because of you. It was your sin that Christ took upon himself.”
We then went to downtown Toronto and continued preaching. There were few hecklers and few listening, but it was freezing cold.
Friday January 5th
We went back downtown for open air. We received hecklers like “what kind of God would send someone to hell?” I turned it around and said, “What kind of man does it take to provoke God to such anger?” The fault of course is with man and not with God.
One man even started smoking pot right there in front of us out in public. An Ethiopian Christian man stopped and listened to the preaching for a while. He was deeply encouraged and went to buy us all coffee. He said that back in his country the Christians are very much alive, but here they seem to be very dead.
A Christian girl came up to us and encouraged us and said she really believed in what we were doing. We preached for hours until we finally wrapped it up.
Trenton
Friday January 6th
I was able to preach open air downtown and also to a small group of Christians at a local Church on “Holiness of Heart”. That audio sermon is available online at the website.
Ottawa
Saturday January 7th
Greg Gordon, Ricky Earle, and I went to Ottawa and connected with Chris Curry who runs Living Waters Canada. Despite the extreme cold, we were able to go out and preach on the streets.
Wearing three pairs of socks, I was able to preach for hours in the downtown Market place where there are restaurants and bars. A group of kids started yelling and mocking, but when I started preaching directly to them they got more serious. One walked all the way over to me trying to justify himself explaining that he was Catholic. I explained to him the true gospel about being saved from sin, death, and hell because of Christ and not because of self.
Another man came out of a store and started yelling at me. I engaged him and started going back and forth with him. I felt the words flow out of me, and I was harder on him then I’ve been with any other sinner. But I think that is what he needed because afterwards he came up and shook my hand and thanked me, though he was wearing a sweat shirt that had a cross with a big red X through it.
One heckler said, “But what about the priests who molest child? See, power corrupts!” I responded with, “That is why homosexuals should not be allowed in the clergy! It’s not the power which is a problem; it’s their perversion which is the problem!”
One kid who was walking by as I was preaching stopped and listened. Greg started talking to him and the guy said, “I can’t believe this. This is Jesse. I’ve listened to his sermons. I can’t believe this.” Amazingly, this guy was from New York but some how had heard some of my sermons before. And he just so happened to have been walking by as we were preaching open-air! Wow.
Around 11:00pm Greg Gordon and I went for a walk to find some food and possibly a good place to preach. We did find a pizza place that was open, and on our way back to the Hotel we saw a large crowd outside of a bar.
As soon as I stood up and said, “I’ve come out here tonight to preach the Word of the Lord” the crowd started humming and singing in harmony to drown me out. I thought of Whitefield who would at times encounter drummers and trumpeters playing to drown out his preaching. I said to the crowd, “Sing on Sinners! Sing on!” which actually made them all stop singing!
I was able to continue preaching as they started to swarm around me asking question. “What do you think about abortion?” “Its government assisted homicide.” After preaching the gospel of the Kingdom for a while eventually the crowd started to dwindle.
One girl kept going on and on in her blasphemous idolatry. “God wants us to come out here and have a fun time. God wants us to get drunk.” My response was, “You’re just as bad as a Buddhist!” to which the crowd roared “OOOHHHH! You can’t say that!” This of course was my intentional jab at the multi-cultural-ism and shows my insensitivity to idolatry. But the crowd which was once dwindling was now once again swarming around me as I was able to preach the gospel.
Some people would throw a snow ball at me, but praise God they didn’t throw any bottles or rocks. I would respond back “I pray that God doesn’t treat you the way you treat me.” Others would heckle and say, “What is wrong with getting drunk? Who am I sinning against?” and of course the answer is God.
We went down the street to another club where there was a line. I started to preach as a drunken Russian walked up and asked me for a cigarette. I said, “What do you want one of them for? It will only send you to hell quicker.” After much talking with him about sin and his soul, he said he wanted pray for salvation. He seemed genuine and sincere to me and so I got down off the box and prayed with him that God would save him.
Sunday January 8th
Chris Curry arranged it so that I was able to briefly speak at Living Waters Church and tell the congregation about the ministry.
That evening we were also able to speak at a halfway home for drug addicted men. We shared our testimonies of Jesus Christ.
Monday January 9th
We preached on the University of Ottawa for about an hour and a half until the campus security kicked us off because it’s a private college. But we were able to get a great deal of preaching in during that time, and reached lots of students and answered a great deal of questions. The audio to that preaching is on the website.
We went on the sidewalk where there was the main traffic flow and continued the open air preaching there. One man stopped and asked if he could speak. I was hesitant but Greg gave him the “go ahead”. In French he read out of 1Peter on the last days. Another man came up and asked us if he could preach. I said go ahead and he preached a hardcore message of repentance and a wonderful message of grace. I talked to him afterwards and he said he’s been open air preaching for a long time, and when he drove by and saw us he had to stop.
When we went to lunch, right before we entered the coffee shop a man doing radio interviews walked up to us. He asked us what we would look for in a politician for the upcoming election. We explained how we wanted to see a politician who would hold to the values of classic morality, and would seek to preserve it.
Toronto
Back in Toronto we went to the University of Toronto. To the glory of God I was able to preach for 4 ½ hours to a crowd of 100+ students. Hecklers said things like, “The disciples wrote the gospel in their old age and therefore cannot be trusted. They wrote them long after the actual events occurred” I responded back with, “All men who write their autobiographies write them in their old age long after the events took place. Does that mean you can’t believe someone’s autobiography? Do you discredit all biographies on those grounds or just the gospels?
Another heckler tried to justify fornication. He said, “But what if there was a religion that said fornication was ok?” I responded with, “well, then I would safely concluded that you would join that religion.” They accuse me of creating in my mind my own false God to fit my desires and hopes that there is something more to life and after death, when in reality they conclude that there is no God to fit their sinful desires of living however they want.
Though it’s illegal to speak against homosexuality in Canada, we did it anyways. But nobody came to arrest us!
Greg had some friends come to the University while we were preaching. One of them actually took the crowd over for me while I went to the men’s room. He preached open air for the first time! Praise God. Another one of Gregs friends watched the open air and was strongly convicted that he should start open air preaching. He is going to be an assistant to a well known preacher named George Vernon (Founder of Operation Mobilization), but said he is going to start open air preaching in the very same spot where I just was.
Syracuse, NY
In Downtown Syracuse Greg, Miles Lewis, Pastor Jason, and I witnessed and preached. Miles was able to work up two great crowds two different times without any tricks or gimmicks, just preaching. This area was very dark and ghetto, with much talk on drugs and sex and violence. I am very glad that we were able to plant seeds in a place where it looks like nobody labors.
Maryland
Sunday January 15th
I had the privilege of speaking at a Sunday Service of a Nigerian Church called New Covenant. I preached on “Earnestly Contend: for the Lordship of Christ.”
Ohio
Wednesday 17th
A friend of mine named Grady Gamble used to preach at the Mineral Area College when he was in their police academy. He told me that it would be good if I went there to preach. A group of us went, and started to preach during the class change, but the Dean came running up to me after about 4 minutes and said I had to leave and called security.
I talked to one Christian man who was part of the Administration and he said he would see about setting up the English System of free speech on campus, where they have a specific location and people only need to sign their name in a time slot. So though we didn’t get to preach, one administrator will work on making it an open campus since it is public.
Missouri
Saturday 21st
I was able to lead a team of 10+ people into the Kansas City night life for witnessing. The team was made up of both adults and teenagers. One man preached open air for the first time a few times that night and now feels that he had found his calling. He wants to start leading a team out there for witnessing and preaching.
We preached open air outside of a pub for hours. Many of those who went in and came out stopped to yell at us or ask questions. Many people heard the word of repentance that night!
Sunday 22nd
At Rose of Sharon Church Jeffrey Olver and I were able to share about our ministry to the Sunday school adult class.
That afternoon we took food to a park to feed about 200 homeless men and women. While the food was being handed out, I was able to preach open-air. Once just about everyone received their food, I went down a block to where a group of homeless people were hanging out and preached. Rather then dealing with them according to the circumstances, I dealt with them according to their sins and hammered home theft, adultery, lying, etc. One man, Ray, re-committed his life to Christ after the preaching.
That evening I spoke at the Youth Service of the Church a message on Walking With God. That audio is available online.
Oklahoma
Tuesday 24th
For 4 ½ hours Jeff and I preached open air on the University of Oklahoma to 50+ students. One student came up afterwards and how he could get a crowd to open air preach on campus. It seems almost everywhere we go God is raising up laborers for after we leave!