VCC Reachout

My daughter Chaise, recently invited a friend from school to the RIOT. During an alter call she said to him “You should go up there.” He told her he didn’t want to. She blurted out “JESUS HUNG NAKED ON A CROSS FOR YOU AND YOU CAN’T GO UP THERE!?” He said, “OK, I’ll go.” I was so proud of my daughter for being so bold and SO right! Anyone who knows Chaise will tell you that this has not been typical of her. This is the same girl who not too long ago wouldn’t go up to the counter at McDonald’s and ask for ketchup! But God has been doing amazing things in Chaise’s life just as He wants to do amazing things in your life as well! Maybe your asking yourself “Why am I not seeing God move this way in my life”.

The Apostle Paul says in Romans 1:16:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation.

We as Christians neglect to share our faith with others for one reason and that reason is fear. You could say that we are ashamed of the Gospel of Christ and you’d be saying the same thing. But the Bible says “You are a new creation in Christ”. All the old things that have to do with your old spirit are gone and everything is new and everything is of God. He has not given you a spirit of fear so if you have fear you didn’t get it from God.

2 Corinthians 5:9-11 and 17-21 says:

9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

God has completely reconciled you to Himself through Jesus and forgiven you of ALL (past, present, future) sin (vs 19). But verse 9 says that “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” So what will we be judged for if God is not imputing our trespasses against us? We will be judged for what we did or didn’t do with the awesome investment that God has made in us. That investment is His Son. Verse 11 says “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”

You as a believer have been given the Ministry of Reconciliation. I wish I could tell you this is optional but it’s not. And I’m not saying you need to become a street evangelist or a missionary to a foreign country. But there are loved ones, co-workers and friends in your life that are not saved. As you begin the adventure of purposely reaching out to those around you God does not expect you to do this on your own. The Holy Spirit wants to partner with you and He will plead through you as you take this step of faith (vs 20).

Look at Hebrews 13:11-14:

11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.

When I began to go street witnessing I braced myself for what I called “the backlash”. I thought that just about every person I talked to would violently rebuke me for even approaching them. I thought every door would be slammed in my face. Those thoughts were based on the fear that the devil would use to keep me from obeying God, walking into my destiny and seeing souls saved. Have I ever been persecuted or ridiculed for presenting the Gospel to people. Definitely! But there’s a sense of joy that comes from knowing that I am participating in my part of what Jesus suffered for us. Jesus was willing to suffer not only the horrific pain of the cross but also the shame of His vulnerability and nakedness and supposed defeat. How can we not go to Him and suffer our part of His reproach. There is no other way to do this but by being a witness on purpose and presenting the Gospel to people. If we want to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection then we also have to embrace the fellowship of His sufferings.

One year ago this past April after almost two years of disobeying God, I finally obeyed Him and started witnessing on the streets of Youngstown by myself. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done but I believe that God was bringing me through that so I could help others who face the same fears I did. But you don’t have to do it alone! Now there are many people who are participating in different aspects of what we call VCC REACHOUT and are available to help you get moving in being the light to the world that God has called you to be. You can contact us at reachout@vccmail.org or call me (Mike) at 330.503.2133.

A few weeks ago my wife had a meeting in downtown Pittsburgh so I decided to go with her and do some street witnessing in the city. I was excited about witnessing in a larger city and looked forward to the possibility for some great conversations. It turned out it was cold in downtown Pittsburgh in more ways than one. I was surprised at how many rejections I was getting. Some people would just walk by without even acknowledging me. I passed out a decent amount of tracts and had one great conversation with a guy named Tim. After about an hour I decided to go indoors and get some coffee and a bagel. When I paid for my order I gave the cashier the money along with a Million Dollar Bill tract. I said to him “Keep the million!†He laughed and said that recently someone tried to get change for one of these at a local grocery store. He said “When he didn’t get change from his fake money he started breaking things and the police came and arrested him.†At this point two other employees came over and asked what we were talking about which gave me the opportunity to give them Gospel tracts as well. They were both happy to get their Million Dollar Bills.

I sat in the bagel shop enjoying the warmth and not looking forward to going back into the cold and dealing with the bad attitudes that I was encountering. I decided that maybe I had done enough and maybe I had accomplished something by breaking into new territory. That thought didn’t last any longer than it took to form it and I knew that I had to push myself harder. I went ahead back out into the cold and ignored the fear and laziness that were trying to hinder me. One of the first people I talked to asked me what I was handing out. I said “It’s a Gospel tract.†He said “Oh, I’ve got the Gospel right here in my heart! I’m a Christian.†He said he had something for me and he gave me what’s called a Pocket Bible. It’s a small Book of John with an additional Gospel message in it. He gave it to me and said “You might need it.†I thanked him. Meeting him encouraged me.

According to Reference.com, an online encyclopedia, gold nuggets are rare, and even a small nugget will fetch 1.5 to 2 times the spot price of gold. Very large nuggets are extremely rare, and sell for very high prices. Ray Comfort said that witnessing is like mining for gold. You dig and you dig and you dig until you find that priceless gold nugget or in this case that person who is humble of heart and shows strong signs of genuine repentance. I thank God I didn’t stay in the Bagel Shop because if I had I would not have met Josepha. Josepha is a young woman I met not long after I the guy who gave me the Pocket Bible. She was like talking to a child about their new found curiosity of the world around them. She had so many genuine questions about God and having a relationship with Him. She was ready to commit her life to the Lord and intended on raising her unborn child in the ways of God. In the end I got to pray with Josepha and I told her what I usually tell the “gold nuggets†I find. I said “Josepha, if I came down here from Youngstown, Ohio for one person; it was you!†She smiled really big. As I handed her the Pocket Bible I was given just a few moments before, I encouraged her to read it and talk to God everyday.

Jesus indicated that there are many “gold nuggets†in the world. Matthew 9:36-38 says:

“36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.â€

Jesus said “The harvest truly is plentiful†which means that He sees a multitude of “gold nuggets†but He also knows that the workers are far too few for the task.

John 4:34-35 says:

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

In these verses you can see Jesus’ compassion for the lost and the cry of His heart for laborers. He’s commanded us to go! If you care about what Jesus cares about then start digging for gold!

happened on 3.10.08

It hasn’t even been a year since I started going witnessing on the streets of Youngstown. It seems like it’s been longer - maybe because God has done so much in so little time. We have a group of people who (when it’s not too cold) meet downtown every week to pass out tracts and share their faith. We have a monthly church service at International Towers for people who can’t go to church. We’re in the middle of doing an eight week evangelism training course with an average of 45 people! Most, if not all of these people feel a strong sense of responsibility to The Great Commission but just feel ill-equipped or too afraid or both.

This week we started a door-to-door outreach that we’ll be doing every other Saturday in various housing communities. I’ve gone door-to-door a lot over the past year and I admit at times I’m not really excited about it. In fact the first few times I went I was terrified. We went into the projects of Warren and I honestly wasn’t afraid for my life; I was afraid of imposing myself on other peoples time in the privacy of their homes. To my surprise most of the people were very open to conversation and in the colder weather they would often ask us to come in to their homes. Children would literally beg for Million Dollar Bill tracts and I’d usually end up giving them five or six each. We got to pray with people about their needs and they would thank us for being there for them.

This week, Julia Wike, Joe Lantini and I went to the projects in Campbell. I must have been driving too slow as I looked for a place to park. Three young guys came running up to my truck asking us “whatya got?” I handed them Million Dollar Bill tracts. I told them to read the back and they said “OK.” Joe said that the one had crack in his hand.

We talked to a guy named Gabriel who knew about the Gospel and what God requires of him. He was only the second person I’ve talked to over the past year that knew that if he died right then he would go to hell. Other than people who know the Lord just about everyone I talk to thinks that they would go to heaven because they feel that they are a good person. I thought at one time that most people had an idea of their unworthiness before God but that isn’t true. We need to help people come to a place of repentance before we invite them to commit their lives to Christ.

The first apartment we came to we asked if we could come in and talk to them and they let us. There was two kids on a couch with a young woman. The boy, who couldn’t have been any older than 14 was sharing a cigarette with the young woman. I talked to a man named Dexter who was also there and Julia talked to the young girl who’s name was Zanise. The Holy Spirit showed Julia that she would be a teacher someday and when Julia shared this with her she said it was true. Julia asked Zanise if she knew how she knew this and she said that she didn’t know. Julia shared that God had showed this to her and gave her a Gideons bible and wrote inside the cover what God had showed her about Zanise so she wouldn’t forget.

We talked to two guys by the name of LB and Brian. LB was pretty uncooperative but it seemed like we were getting through to Brian. We talked to a young woman who Julia had talked to a few years before. She seemed depressed and Julia got to pray with her to commit her life to the Lord.

As the weather gets warmer I’m looking forward to expanding our REACH OUT team and bringing many more of the lost to Christ for the glory of God this year!

I sent out this article to a number of people as an email in September before this web site came to be so I thought I’d post it here as well.

Alcoholics sometimes suffer *DT’s (Delirium Tremens) as a result of alcohol withdrawal. The DT’s cause severe shaking, profuse sweating and paranoia and produce frightening hallucinations. As I went downtown today I suffered the Christian version of the DT’s (Discouraging Thoughts). They sometimes begin as soon as you think about sharing your faith with someone. You get the sweats, the shakes, paranoia and have hallucinations of frightening things to come. I suffer the DT’s less and less but when I do I’ve learned to just ignore them and thank God that He has NOT given me a spirit of fear but of POWER, LOVE and a SOUND MIND.

Anyway, I had a great day today! I connected with a lot of people and was able to clearly communicate the Gospel to them. The last person I talked to was a guy named Pete. I asked if he knew the Lord. He said he did. I didn’t take his word for it and after some time together he realized that he was not a Christian. He was very concerned about the possibility of dying and going to hell so I challenged him to take time as soon as possible and commit his life to Christ. He said “I’d like to do that right now!” So I got to pray with him and I encourage him to come and check out Victory.

I also got to share the Gospel with Sherry (who has a Jehovah’s Witness background), Kyle and Elijah, Mohammed (who is a Muslim), John and George. I can’t tell you how fulfilling and exciting it is to know that God has impacted the lives of these people through my witness. If you are thinking about stepping out and pushing through your “DT’s” I encourage you to do so. People are more open to the Gospel than you think. The Bible says that no one can come to God unless God draws them but God can’t draw them unless the seed of His Word has been planted in their hearts. So even if you just plant or water the seed of God’s Word in the lives of people you are a tremendous success!

*I borrowed the analogy of the DT’s from the first chapter of Ray Comfort’s book Thanks a Million!