Post by Jeffrey Olver on Aug 31, 2008 21:29:37 GMT -5
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Deep Ellum - Dallas, Texas
Caleb and myself met up in Deep Ellum around 7pm. We grabbed a quick bite to eat before entering into a time of prayer.
During our prayer I felt that a certain scripture would be important to keep in mind for the night:
Acts 4:24-31
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, "Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, "Why did the heaten rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kinds of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Chrtist. For a truth aginast Thy Holy Child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pointius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever They hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done. And now Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto Thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak they word."
We closed and met up with Joel and Jesse as they arrived.
Arming ourselves with our Bible, Gospel tracts and two sandwhich board signs we marched over to a club we had seen with a line outside - a club ironically named "The Prophet."
We met with crowds of men and women who were into the whole "punk" scene. The moment Jesse began preaching the crowd errupted in violent language - spewing hatred, blasphemy, profanity and obscenity. It turned very quickly into violence - a young guy shoving Jesse, then another guy ripping the buttons off of the straps on the sandhwich board, then ripping the board itself off and casting it into the street.
But we persevered and many small groups discussions were had that got into deep and serious subjects.
Joel and I left to scope out other spots to divide our efforts. We ran into a confusing group of african american men, dressed in long clothes, preaching from the Bible, condeming sin in America. But they held to doctrines that were very difficult to ascertain. They were unwilling to talk unless we spoke using scripture. Very unreasonable. So we continued on our way and preached for a short time in front of the Deep Ellum bar.
We met two groups of Christians and were able to encourage each other and give them tracts to hand out.
After attempting to see if there were any other good preaching spots, at midnight we headed back to The Prophet to preach again.
This time I began to preach. The reaction was worse. I got shoved a couple times. People began throwing trash, beercans, stacks of newspapers, cups, bottles, cigarettes and screaming in my face. Someone came up and dumped almost a gallon of ice water on my head. I couldn't see, so I took my glasses off. Then people began to spit in my face and eyes, someone spit beer in my face. A young lady was hit in the head with a beer can, and I actually caught a juice bottle before it hit me in the face.
Joel's brand new sandwhich board was ripped off of him by the same guy who trashed Jesse's sign. This time they tried to light it on fire, but were unsuccessful, bless God!
The signs were retrieved by some silent observers who saw the whole thing. By the time most of the crowd dispersed, there was very fruitful conversations that I'm sure the other gentlemen will post about later on the boards.
It just goes to show that when you put violence into your head and heart, it comes out of your mouth and your actions.
The Lord definitely granted us boldness not to shy away in the face of threatenings and violence. Many people heard the word of the Lord and were caused to think about the condition of their souls.
Pix to be posted soon.
Deep Ellum - Dallas, Texas
Caleb and myself met up in Deep Ellum around 7pm. We grabbed a quick bite to eat before entering into a time of prayer.
During our prayer I felt that a certain scripture would be important to keep in mind for the night:
Acts 4:24-31
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, "Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, "Why did the heaten rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kinds of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Chrtist. For a truth aginast Thy Holy Child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pointius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever They hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done. And now Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto Thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak they word."
We closed and met up with Joel and Jesse as they arrived.
Arming ourselves with our Bible, Gospel tracts and two sandwhich board signs we marched over to a club we had seen with a line outside - a club ironically named "The Prophet."
We met with crowds of men and women who were into the whole "punk" scene. The moment Jesse began preaching the crowd errupted in violent language - spewing hatred, blasphemy, profanity and obscenity. It turned very quickly into violence - a young guy shoving Jesse, then another guy ripping the buttons off of the straps on the sandhwich board, then ripping the board itself off and casting it into the street.
But we persevered and many small groups discussions were had that got into deep and serious subjects.
Joel and I left to scope out other spots to divide our efforts. We ran into a confusing group of african american men, dressed in long clothes, preaching from the Bible, condeming sin in America. But they held to doctrines that were very difficult to ascertain. They were unwilling to talk unless we spoke using scripture. Very unreasonable. So we continued on our way and preached for a short time in front of the Deep Ellum bar.
We met two groups of Christians and were able to encourage each other and give them tracts to hand out.
After attempting to see if there were any other good preaching spots, at midnight we headed back to The Prophet to preach again.
This time I began to preach. The reaction was worse. I got shoved a couple times. People began throwing trash, beercans, stacks of newspapers, cups, bottles, cigarettes and screaming in my face. Someone came up and dumped almost a gallon of ice water on my head. I couldn't see, so I took my glasses off. Then people began to spit in my face and eyes, someone spit beer in my face. A young lady was hit in the head with a beer can, and I actually caught a juice bottle before it hit me in the face.
Joel's brand new sandwhich board was ripped off of him by the same guy who trashed Jesse's sign. This time they tried to light it on fire, but were unsuccessful, bless God!
The signs were retrieved by some silent observers who saw the whole thing. By the time most of the crowd dispersed, there was very fruitful conversations that I'm sure the other gentlemen will post about later on the boards.
It just goes to show that when you put violence into your head and heart, it comes out of your mouth and your actions.
The Lord definitely granted us boldness not to shy away in the face of threatenings and violence. Many people heard the word of the Lord and were caused to think about the condition of their souls.
Pix to be posted soon.