Keep up with everything God is doing through our ministry. This page will be updated regularly to let you know what we've been up to, and where we will be going next.
Current News...
6/17/09
What a whirlwind week! Last Wednesday, Jay and Kris flew to not-so-sunny southern California for Ambassador's Academy #11. After being couped up for an entire day in a cold room with Tony Miano, Kirk Cameron, Ray Comfort, Mark Spence, E.Z. Zwayne and 44+ other evangelists, they hit the streets. Beginning with Hollywood Boulevard, they preached in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, handed out hundreds of tracts, and shared the gospel personally with many individuals. Then they headed to Glendale, where the Academy had a permit for amplification. Kris preached for the first time with a mic. The next day, they were in Ray's stomping grounds, at Huntington Beach, where team leader Steve Sanchez decided to play a little game called 'Stevie Says'. The game only had one rule: Whatever Steve says, you do it, without hesitation. It was meant as an exercise in breaking out of your comfort zone when reaching out to the lost, and it worked.
Cold meeting room aside, the Academy was a great experience for both of them, and they brought many things back home to share with the rest of the team. Not the least of which was a reinforced passion to preach the gospel unto every creature. We're glad they could go down, and grateful for what God is doing through Living Waters, and especially the Ambassador's Academy, in raising up evangelists across the whole world, who will faithfully, and biblically, preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, while there is still time.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, Dave and Mike went up to Kent Station on Friday night. The place was packed with people, and every opportunity was taken to open air preach. Hundreds of people heard the gospel, and we have faith that God will grow those seeds that are firmly planted. He has promised that his word does not return void; it will accomplish that which it is sent out to do.
Just this evening, Dave, Mike, Jay and Kris all went to downtown Olympia to preach. There is a park not far from the Performing Arts Center, and there were several people milling around. Mike had tracts in everyone's hands almost before the rest of the team had made it to the center of the park. Kris opened up the preaching, and several people moved over to hear, including one heckler. After he was done, Dave got up on the box, and before long, he had about 20 hecklers, all trying to ask him questions at the same time. By the grace of God, he was able to keep the conversation on track, and bring them to a knowledge of their sin, then show them the beauty of the Cross, and Christ's payment for sin, if they would repent and trust in the risen Savior.
Looking forward to an excellent weekend. Dave and Mike are heading back up to Kent Station on Friday. Jay is going to Westport on Saturday, to do some open air, and he may be accompanied by Jimmy. There is some kind of Gay Pride event going on in downtown Olympia this Sunday, so we are going to try and make an appearance there as well. So many places, so little time.
05/30/09
Another beautiful day, another opportunity graciously given by God to spread the gospel. Mike and Kris went up to Kent Station with the intention of handing out tracts and doing some open air. They met Scott there and dove right into some one on one encounters. They never got the stool out to preach; people were stopping to take tracts and receive the good person test the whole time.
At one point Kris had a young man approach him with some questions about homosexuality. It was obviously a major issue the young man had with Christian ethics. Kris simply replied, "Whether homosexuality is a sin or not, they still have to answer to God for lying, stealing, blasphemy, coveting, and idolatry, just to name a few." He then appealed to the young man's own concience concerning his own sin. He seemed to be sobered by the thought that God would justly condemn him to eternity in hell, so Kris proceeded with the good news of justification in Christ alone. When the conversation ended, the young man shook his hand and thanked him earnestly.
Before long the supply of tracts was dwindling, and it was nearing time to head back to Shelton. However, the evening wasn't quite over. The Forest Festival was this weekend, with a fireworks show at the local Wal Mart. Mike and Kris headed down there for the show, and brought what few tracts they had left to pass out while everyone waited.
All in all, it was a great day; we just pray that seeds were planted well, and that God will bring the increase.
05/28/09
The team just got back from preaching on the streets of downtown Olympia. There didn't seem to be any good locations for open air, so we hit the pavement with tracts and one on one witnessing. The beautiful weather brought out a lot of people, and they seemed more responsive to tracts than usual. Ten minutes after a one on one encounter with a young woman, she came back and asked Mike, "What must I do to be saved?" She seemed very earnest and we all pray that the Lord is regenerating her heart tonight, that she might believe and be saved.
We were fortunate to have a guest with us tonight. Jimmy Calle witnessed with us, since he's back in town from seminary. He's used to preaching in sunny, Southern California, so I hope 85 degrees wasn't too cold for him. He had one young man threaten to, "nail [him] to a cross the same way they did Jesus," while we were passing out tracts at the bus station. Hopefully the heat of persecution will keep him warm, even if the weather doesn't.
Two of our number will be heading down to Cali in a couple weeks to take part in the Living Waters Ambassadors Academy. Jay and Kris will be spending 4 days in what effectively amounts to an evangelism boot camp. David participated in the Academy last October, and wrote about it in our blog. We are looking forward to the work that God will do growing Kris and Jay while they are there, and the passion they will bring to our ministry when they come back.
Dave and Mike went up to Seattle last Saturday for the Folk Life Festival. They couldn't bring enough tracts, or hand them out fast enough, there were so many people. They ran out within a couple hours, then went to Westlake for some open air.
Last week we went to the Capital Mall in Olympia to hand out tracts and do some one on one witnessing. We weren't in the mall long before the security guards asked us to leave for the night. They don't take well to people handing out anything for free on mall property, apparently. So we left, and went to get something to eat. Kris had to meet his wife to get a ride back home, so we parked in the mall parking lot to wait for her. Not ten minutes after we parked, a security truck pulled up and parked across from us. It was the same guards that had asked us to leave the mall earlier. They tapped on the window and told us we needed to get out of the car so that they could formally ban us from the mall for a year. We tried to reason with them that we were just waiting for Kris' wife so that he could get a ride home, and had no intention of going back into the mall to hand out tracts, but they insisted that we allow them to ban us, or they were going to call the police. Not wanting to cause any trouble, or needlessly involve law enforcement in something as minor as four guys refusing to be banned from the mall for passing out gospel tracts, we complied. Looking back, we probably should have just left. I am sure that the Olympia P.D. had bigger fish to fry than a group of gospel preachers handing out Million Dollar tracts at the mall. In any case, if that is the worst persecution we have to face for the sake of Christ, then glory to God who has graciously given us a country where we have the freedom to preach the gospel without fear of bodily harm.
Looking forward to another sunny weekend. We will be in Seattle this Saturday for most of the afternoon, and may drop by the Forest Festival in Shelton in the evening. Soon we will post our full schedule for June, so keep your eyes out for it on the main page.
04/15/09
It has been far too long since we've posted an update. As you can see, the site has changed dramatically. Kris has learned the basics of HTML, CSS and java. Paired with his already substantial experience with Photoshop, he has completely revamped the site. We are looking forward to many more changes soon.
We have not been idle in the ministry of seeking and saving the lost through the winter months. We have been to Kent and Seattle numerous times throughout the holiday season. Recently we had the opportunity to preach with a brother who traveled all the way from PA to fellowship with us. David met him at the Ambassador's Academy, and was very excited to have him out.
We have a regular ministry schedule now. Every Wednesday night we will be going to the Capital Mall in Olympia for one on one witnessing, and every Saturday we will either be going to Seattle or Kent Station for open air and one on one. Scott may be at Kent Station more often than that, simply because he lives in the area. Aside from the schedule, we carry the message of the gospel with us wherever we go, so don't be surprised if you see us somewhere else preaching, or handing out tracts, or engaging in some one on one. I know that David has been known to be seen outside the Planned Parenthood in Shelton from time to time.
As I mentioned before, more updates will be coming to the site very soon. We have begun the process of obtaining non-profit status, and very soon after that we will be applying for 501C tax exempt status. When that happens, we will add a donation link to the site.
Also, be looking for our Evangelism Training Course that we will be offering soon for local churches. We are currently hammering out the specifics of the program, but we should be ready to implement it in the coming months.
More info soon, and I will do my utmost to be more consistent about updates.
11/14/08
Another fruitful Friday night at Kent Station!
If you've never been to Kent Station, imagine a large plaza with little shops everywhere. Coffee shops, Cold Stone Creamery, and clothing stores that you would expect to find in a shopping mall. The center of it all is the AMC Cinemas, and it is in front of this modern house of worldly worship that we set up our soapbox.
As usual, by the time we arrive there are already several brothers preaching the message. Scott, Ron, Coleton and the gang were busy with one on one witnessing.
We all had a few rounds of open air preaching. There were many receptive listeners, and I have faith that the Holy Spirit was doing His work in many hearts. One particular group of young men spent quite some time talking with Mike. They all admitted that, if they died on the spot, they would go to hell. By the end of the conversation, all their heads were bowed in humble prayer. Two of them came back later to ask Mike some more questions. They were obviously eager to learn more. That is an encouraging sign that God has begun to do a work in their hearts.
We left later than usual because of a young man we all got caught up talking to. He claimed that he had been a born again Christian, but had turned away from the faith, because of the rampant hypocrisy in the church. It became clear as we talked to him that he had never truly repented and put his faith completely in Jesus Christ as his savior. We plead with him not to let the hypocrisy of so-called ministers of the gospel to dissuade him from trusting in Jesus. As always, personal accountability to God was at the forefront of our message. Unfortunately, he left us saying that he still needed more personal experience of Jesus in order to put his faith in Him. In a way, he is right; the only thing that can convert his heart is the saving work of the Holy Spirit to remove the hardness that is there, and replace it with a desire to worship God, and trust in His Son to save him from his sin.
11/8/08
Our latest trip up to Seattle was a huge success. David and Kris were even able to convince their wives to come and join in on the action.
The forecast said rain, but we barely saw a drop all day long. Praise God! Our team made it to Westlake Center not long after 2:30 in the afternoon, and immediately began scoping out a good place to preach.
We found one right next to some gay rights advocates, who were having no luck getting anyone to listen to their message. That was just fine, because before long, they were listening to ours. Using trivia questions to draw a crowd, we began to preach the gospel to the masses.
The receptivity was amazing. God truly works through the preaching of the word, and we repeatedly had people say that they had never heard it presented that way before.
For most of the evening we took turns stop-light preaching. With only 90 seconds or so to get your message out before the mass of people waiting to cross the street can move on, it is an intense form or witnessing that causes you to refine your message to the absolute essentials of the gospel. This gives a great platform for all other forms of evangelism.
Jay had some excellent one on one encounters. One man started off cursing him out, only to be turned all the way around and give him a hug at the end of the conversation.
By the end of the night, we must have preached on every street corner in the general area. Though we were all elated by the day's success, we were also quite worn out, and returned to Shelton for some much needed rest.
