Can Street Preaching be a Picnic?

February 12th was a Saturday Night. And we, the street preachers, were live and in the open in East Lansing. It seemed that the hot chocolate was appreciated the prior week, so there was even more this time. When everyone saw how much there was, many jokes were made about us all being comfy while out spreading the Word. Once, it was even claimed it was like going out for a picnic. And actually, we did have a picnic! It was a rollicking good time for all...well, except for the sinners that were offended at hearing the word. What made it such a good time? There were several things. I think the most enjoyable aspect of preaching with others is the fellowship. We all are familiar with Prov 27:17 which states, "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." So it is when we go out preaching with each other. I learn something new every time I go out, and it is almost always from the people I'm preaching with. I think there are probably a lot of people out there who think that it wouldn't do any good for them to come out.  Some feel they don't know the scriptures well enough, or they don't have a gift for preaching. Really, though, if you just hold a sign, the Word of God is still going out and you don't have to say a word. If you are with other preachers, too, you learn pretty quickly the bulk of the things people say and how to respond. If more preachers came we could spread out more, and even more people could hear the Word of God each week. Every week, I can see hundreds of people walking by who are too far away to hear me even if I yell. This week, in particular, there were so many people gathered around wanting to talk to us, that we couldn't engage them one on one. That was true several times. If more people had been there, more questions could have been answered. I know I have written in the past about how many people curse us, but there are so many students who are hungry for the Word of God, even if only for a few moments while passing in the cold, that if we had more preachers out there, it would certainly make a greater impact on our audience.
As for the numbers of people who mocked and cursed us, it didn't seem like very many people were offended this week. I mean, there were some, of course, but I believe we were thanked for what we were doing and told how much people respected us than I've ever seen before. Being that it is getting warmer out, we were all more comfortable than in prior weeks, too. So, when midnight rolled around and there was a crowd of people wanting to talk, we all stayed a bit longer. Brad took off about 12:30 (one of Chris' friends), and Chris, Rich and I tried to leave as well. However, someone stopped and wanted to talk again while we were at the cars trying to get in one last cup of hot cocoa before going home. It was like a waiter had come to our picnic blanket offering us the desert menu! So, we just kept feasting on the Word of God. (I know, that's a strange mixing of metaphors, but it was a little strange at the time, too, so I figure it is OK to describe it that way.) That last person we talked to was convinced (and told us this several times) that he believed exactly the same things as us, except that he didn't believe Jesus is Lord... Before he left, he told us, though, that he might even come around to our way of thinking some day. The ray of hope he gave us was nice, but I bring it up more because that conversation was typical on so many levels of the types of conversations we have. So many people think they know about the Bible, and Christianity, and Jesus, and are shocked at the things we tell them. Besides the things the Bible teaches that aren't preached about at most churches, the last guy we talked to was surprised time and again at an even more basic level: that he had contradictions in his own beliefs! There is a lot that most college students don't know about Christianity, the Bible and even themselves, upon which we can educate them. And, when we do that, they often appreciate it and thank us. So many people are kind to us when we are out street preaching, that it is laughable when people tell us we are ONLY turning people away, or when they say we are doing everything wrong and ONLY getting people to hate us. Those people have clearly neither seriously looked at how evangelism was done in the Bible nor have ever spent any significant amounts of time with anyone doing street preaching the way we do it and are in serious need of education themselves.

So you see, there were many reasons for Feb 12th having been a great time for preaching: the fellowship (we had church right out in the open!), the relatively warm weather (it was 20 degrees warmer than one week earlier!), all the kind people we spoke with, and all the obvious good we were able to bring to the lives of the hearers.
May God use my experiences to bless you in your efforts to serve Him!