It’s about Love. It’s about Sharing. It’s about Christ.

There were Swords, There were Cops!

I DIDN’T KNOW I MIGHT HAVE TO DIE MY FIRST TIME EVANGELIZING!

But, I didn’t evangelize that day. Not in the traditional sense.

You see, I have two brothers in Christ that invited me to go to a park and share the gospel with them. They had been meeting there every week and going over a book on evangelizing, and after an hour of that they put what they learned to practice, right there on the spot.

THESE BROTHERS WERE LIVING OUT MATTHEW 28:19-20

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

I’m not usually shy or bashful, but I was intimidated because I didn’t feel I knew enough to share the Gospel well. (There’s a couple things you can do about this, more on this later.)

Their advice was to come and watch for a few weeks. I was unsure about it, but I thought I ought to so that week I did. I was apprehensive and didn’t know what to expect, but I prayed and trusted God would help me on every step I took for Him.

The park we went to was really unique as it is very large with an asphalt path that goes around the perimeter of the park, as well as another path that goes through the middle of the park.

Lots of people use the park to exercise, walk or run the perimeter. Within this large park, there are smaller ‘sub-parks’, a dog park, playground, a small water park, exercise area, and a very well-constructed concrete skate park. It’s one of the best in the metro area, people come from all over to skate there.

LOTS OF PEOPLE FROM VARIOUS BACKGROUNDS DOING VARIOUS THINGS = LOTS OF GOSPEL SHARING OPPORTUNITIES!

We started out by praying and asking God to put people in our path He would have us talk to and for protection in sharing the Gospel.

THEN, IT WAS GAME ON!

We started walking the perimeter of the park and the gospel tracts we were handing out that day looked like money.

They would hold out a tract and ask something like ‘Did you get one of these? They’re free.’ Typically what would happen is some people would take them and some would not. To those that did take them and if they didn’t just keep walking, a conversation would begin where they started sharing the Gospel.

Towards the end of walking the perimeter, a conversation began with one of my brothers. I could tell the guy (we’ll call him John) wasn’t happy with the message my brother was sharing, and John seemed to be getting angry.

About that time John’s friend brought out a bag that contained a bunch of swords! Swords! I think his friend drew one. You can imagine what I was thinking!

I DIDN’T KNOW I MIGHT HAVE TO DIE MY FIRST TIME EVANGELIZING!

WHO CARRIES AROUND A SWORD? MUCH LESS A BUNCH OF THEM!

Um, yes dear, I think tonight I shall taketh my broadsword, the shiny one, it lookeths better in mine pick-up truck than yine old rusty sword.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT THIS GUY JUST PULLED OUT A SWORD?

(Not like a cute letter opener sword, but a William Wallace let’s all go free Scotland kind of sword)

I thought I might have to defend my brother’s life. I was standing a few feet away observing.

BUT, GOD PROTECTED US (Psalm 34)

It turns out there are people and groups out there that do sword fights for fun, I’m not sure if they get dressed in costumes or what not, but that’s what this was. They were at the park to play or practice, or whatever you call that sort of thing. To me it seemed like a rehearsal for a painful way to die, but I digress.

AFTER MY CODE RED I MIGHT NEED TO SWORD FIGHT WITHOUT A SWORD ALERT, THE TWO BROTHERS AND I STOOD AROUND TALKING TO EACH OTHER

And not long after that, the cops showed up.

THE COPS WEREN’T THERE FOR THE SWORDSMAN, THEY WERE THERE FOR US!

Evidently, there were three ladies there that night that felt threatened that a couple guys asked if they had received a Gospel tract that looked like money. I think they told the cops we were trying to distribute fake money or something like that.

We told the officers what we were doing (sharing the Gospel) and we were able to give them a Gospel tract each so they could see it, which I thought was a blessing too. They left in peace.

My first time evangelizing was a memorable one, but let me leave you with…

SOME IMPORTANT TIPS FOR THOSE NEW TO EVANGELIZING.

Pray about every step of the evangelizing process.

Ask God to send to you or find others evangelizing already and ask to go with them to observe for a few times and then you start trying yourself.

Always try to evangelize in pairs so there is a witness. Also, it helps if you get stuck the other person can jump in. In my experience, I think God has given us different Scripture to share in the same conversation.