(Read parts 1-8 by clicking here!)

It was horrible. Awful. Stomach-churning. I wanted to turn my head to avoid the tragedy that was destined to happen. I didn’t. But what I witnessed, no man should ever see…

The persecution took place at Huntington Beach during the last day of training at the Ambassadors’ Academy, a new evangelism bootcamp of Living Waters, while one member of the team I was leading, Neil Collins, got on the “soapbox” to preach.

Launching into a powerful sermon, the two or three gathered to hear him preach were almost moved to tears.

The audience then doubled to three or four… but on the outskirts of the crowd, evil was plotting its dastardly course.

Two rent-a-rickshaw bicyclists circled around the perimeter of the preacher. They were vehemently opposed to this orator on a box. “It’s bad for business!” spat the baldheaded rickshaw driver. He was determined to put an end to this foolishness. He sat in the back of his rickshaw punching the keypad of his cellphone. Was he dialing “M” for Murder?

The plan was hatched. I overheard the baldheaded guy, probably the ringleader say, “Drive through the crowd. Drive through the crowd!” to his ponytailed partner of perdition. Then the son of Belial whispered conspiratorially, ”And when you do…” (here’s where it gets ugly) “…ring your bell!”

I had no time to warn Neil. Old baldhead went first, sin in his eye…

That awful sound, that echoing, tingling, chiming tune of the little girly bell on his handlebars rang out… ever so wimpily, Ting-Ching!  He broke through the throng of five listeners! Ting-Ching!

Undeterred, Neil continued to preach on as Old Baldhead went up and consulted with his ponytailed partner.

The ponytailed guy made his move. Would there be victory for this spawn of Satan? Ting-Ching! He, too, crashed through the crowd. Actually, they stepped aside politely. Ting-Ching!

Unable to remove the man-of-God from his rightful place, the two ruffian rickshaw rebels rode off into the sunset. But there was no sunset. It was High Noon. The fight was over at the OK corral. 

Neil continued to preach on. And on. And on… And on… oblivious to the works of darkness that met their defeat at the foot of the… soapbox. The crowd, the masses, inclined their ears to the words of salvation.

All five of them.

Ting-Ching!     

Charles Spurgeon (1834 – 1892) wrote:

Once recommenced, the fruitful agency of field-preaching was not allowed to cease. Amid jeering crowds and showers of rotten eggs and filth, the immediate followers of the two great [preachers] continued to storm village after village and town after town. Very varied were their adventures, but their success was generally great. One smiles often when reading incidents in their labors. A string of pack horses is so driven as to break up a congregation, and a fire engine is brought out and played over the throng to achieve the same purpose. Hand-bells, old kettles, marrowbones and cleavers, trumpets, drums, and entire bands of music were engaged to drown the preachers’ voices.

In one case the parish bull was let loose, and in others dogs were set to fight. The preachers needed to have faces set like flints, and so indeed they had. John Furz says: “As soon as I began to preach, a man came straight forward, and presented a gun at my face; swearing that he would blow my brains out, if I spake another word. However, I continued speaking, and he continued swearing, sometimes putting the muzzle of the gun to my mouth, sometimes against my ear. While we were singing the last hymn, he got behind me, fired the gun, and burned off part of my hair.

After this, my brethren, we ought never to speak of petty interruptions or annoyances.
—From Spurgeon’s sermon, OPEN-AIR PREACHING - A SKETCH OF ITS HISTORY AND REMARKS THEREON

This Saturday we will join up with Ray Comfort and his team to share our faith in Huntington Beach! Meet at Hope Chapel at noon. We leave promptly at 12:30PM. For further evangelism adventures, see our schedule here! 

I’ve just found out that Ray is sick. If he is better on Saturday morning when I call him, then we will go to Huntington.

(Read parts 1-7 with succeeding links by clicking here.) Tomorrow you will read about how one evangelism student from The Ambassadors’ Alliance who was severely persecuted by rent-a-rickshaw bicyclists.

The second day of evangelism training was located in Huntington Beach.

watch as a man possessed by a clown demon does backflips during a very serious Gospel presentation after the baptism of one of the evangelism students. Trust me, it was really hard to keep a straight face (”Really, Pastor Steve!”) as Tony Miano, the leader of this entire training, kept on preaching.

(To go directly to the Clown-demon-possessed-backflipper guy, go to the 4-minute marker on the video.)

Click here if you can’t see the video.

(Read parts 1-6 with succeeding links by clicking here.)

I laughed to myself.

At the first day’s training of the Ambassadors’ Alliance, a ministry where people from all over the country came to be coached in a three day evangelism bootcamp, a couple of the teachers assured the class that no one would be pushed to do something they didn’t want to do. “No one will make you do anything,” Tony Miano, the organizer of the event, said over and over.

I thought to myself: People are paying a goodly amount to be taught how to evangelize effectively. They’ve also paid for their airfare, AND sacrificed a lot of time to be here at this training. I don’t want people to go away wondering what they could have done or should have done; I want people to go home thanking God for what they did!” So I pushed them… just a little…

In front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, two ladies, Lesa and Cheri, who never even handed out Gospel tracts on a regular basis, stood on a stool and preached the Gospel powerfully to the forecourt, while tourists inspected the handprints in cement. I hardly pushed at all; God did the pushing.

Lesa Dae belted out the message…

So did Cheri Mills…

But in the background, skulking, was the chicken lady, a worker for the Star Tours buses, who refused to take a Gospel tract.

“SHADDAP! SHADDAP!” she clucked, as everyone continued to preach.

I grabbed Victor Stinson’s elbow. Bam! He climbed on the preaching stool.

A little nudge, and Michael Chamberlain stepped up, in spite of his objections to open air preaching…

Later, the demon tree guy of Hollywood Blvd. scared the pants off of him…

And the chicken lady, growing more agitated by the moment, continued to squawk: “SHADDAP! SHADDAP!” rebuking all those who tried to hand her anything about Jesus.

The husband and wife team, Dennis Feely and Jennifer Good, The FeelyGoods, after a little encouragement, also jumped on the stool shouting repentance to tourists from Idaho, Iowa, and other far-flung places that begin with “I”. 

Big John Chisam from Minnesota, needed no pushing to jump on the stool. But when he did, he crushed it—twice! I didn’t push him to stand on it again. Neil Collins, also a large man, fixed the stool—twice—and preached without it, I think.

The chicken lady circled, feathers ruffled. I convinced Alan Lee to hand her a Gospel tract—a million dollar bill! What would she do? She took it!

Then promptly ripped it up, shoving it back into Alan’s hands.

I had an idea. I wanted to hand the chicken lady an unrippable, untearable, impossible to shred, Ticket to Heaven Gospel tract. She would grab it, try to tear it in half, then when she found out that it wasn’t possible, we’d win her over and share the Gospel.

One problem: She refused to take it.

I tried to push her a little, just a little, but no go. Maybe next time, I’ll gently grab her by the elbow, and ask her to stand on a stool and preach, “SHADDAP! SHADDAP!”

The evangelism students nicknamed me “The Pusher”. To this day I can’t understand why.

READ PART 8 BY CLICKING HERE!

(Read parts 1-5 with succeeding links by clicking here.)

Last week I wrote about how I totally blew it on Hollywood Boulevard.

I was demonstrating to the students attending an evangelism bootcamp put on by Ray Comfort’s ministry, the importance of open air preaching in the midst of distractions. As I started to preach John Travolta showed up; to my shame, I jumped off my preaching stool to give him a tract (read about it here). Little did I know that one of the students, Dennis Feely, was videotaping the whole sordid affair. So, to minimize the damage to my reputation, I thought I’d let you see it before the National Enquirer got a hold of it (you only need to see the first minute). I want to just get it out in the open. (If for some reason you can’t see the video, then click here.)

Thanks a lot Dennis. I owe you, buddy. Big time.

Click here to read part 7!

Click here to see an open air sermon from this year’s Academy Awards, where I actually stayed on my preaching stool.

In a few weeks, I will be changing the name of E-vangie Tales & More to www.StonethePreacher.com

Why? It’s funnier, a little more interesting, and easier to spell.

Really now, if you were to ask people which site they’s rather visit, EvTales.com or StonethePreacher.com, what do think they’d choose? Exactly. It’s possible that our atheist friends might want to take a peek…

The tag line will be “Evangelism with an edge… and a sense of humor!”

I have been advised by a web expert that the name change will possibly increase the traffic. And since I want more people to learn to evangelize—and to be encouraged while they evangelize—I want more people to visit. Look for the banner to change soon, too.

The address www.EvTales.com will still be used, but if you’d like to change the name at your site, feel free.

A rose by any other name…

A West Covina woman who was on the phone talking with 911 dispatchers about a possible burglary was shot and killed, apparently while the crime was in progress, Los Angeles County Sheriffs’ officials said.

The victim, whom authorities described as a “female Asian adult,” was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It was perfectly obvious that she was defenseless and in absolutely no position to harm these individuals,” said Lt. Dan Rosenberg. “For whatever reason, they elected to shoot her. It was vicious.”
—L.A. Times, April

This is very important!
I need your feedback!
Click on the link below!
What do you think?

Be honest!
Explanation Monday.
Here it is: www.StonethePreacher.com
 

“Thanks for bringing sound doctrine to the Boulevard.”
 —The man on a bicycle’s cheerful encouragement as he handed us two bottles of water while leaving Hollywood Blvd. after a day of evangelism training with the Ambassadors’ Alliance, a new evangelism bootcamp from Ray Comfort’s Ministry, Living Waters.

Read all 5 parts of the Ambassadors’ Academy Adventure by starting here!

“And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)
With another new evangelism class starting, I want to read about how faithful you are with God’s message of reconciliation. Write your own E-vangie Tale below by clicking “comments.”

This Saturday we will be going to Ports ‘O Call in San Pedro for the Cinco de Mayo celebrations. We have 3000 new Spanish tracts that we will be using. The demographic is 80% Latino, so evangelism is very easy because the people are very humble. Meet us at Hope Chapel at noon or at Ports ‘O Call at about 1:30. For all details of upcoming events, click here!

Evangelism students from across the nation got an eyeful on Hollywood Boulevard. When they signed up to be a part of the Ambassadors’ Alliance evangelism bootcamp, a new ministry started by The Way of the Master, I’m sure they never expected the wide array of interesting characters they’d see while practicing their evangelistic chops.

Student Jennifer Good dared to give Rambo a Million Dollar Bill Gospel tract, and he didn’t even try to kill her.
Our hope is that this Stallone-wannabe would repent, turn to Christ, then get a better job after reading the Gospel presentation on the back of the bill.

The everpresent homeless also heard the Good News.

As did an orthodox Jewish man, who listened intently to “Righteous Richard” Chavarria as he revealed the identity of his Messiah.

But the strangest being on the Boulevard was this guy.
What guy? Exactly. Look carefully. It’s the Demon Tree Guy, a man standing on 5-foot stilts, waiting silently, sneakily, for passersby. As strollers walked past him unaware, what do you think he did?

GOTCHA!!!

That’s right. He stands next to a tree, looking like a tree himself, then steps out and scares people—all day long! Why? I don’t know, but it sure was funny. One of the evangelism students, Michael Chamberlain, after preaching boldly in front of Grauman’s Theater, screamed like a little girl when the Demon Tree Guy stepped out in front of him.

Another group of men were so startled that they swore up and down at him. The Demon Tree Guy’s response? “Hey! What do you expect on Hollywood Boulevard?”

I was so impressed—and entertained—that I tipped him with a giant Hundred Dollar Bill.

I love to reward creativity.

READ PART 5 HERE!

I was hoping for something special on Hollywood Blvd. as 50 evangelism students from the Ambassadors’ Alliance, a new evangelism training ministry from Ray Comfort, arrived in Tinseltown—and it happened: A huge crowd gathered across the street from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. What was going on? Didn’t know for sure, but the crowd was huge…

We rushed over to see what all the excitement was about. After surveying the situation, I couldn’t figure it out, but… the crowd was huge—and dwindling fast. Whatever happened, already happened. I had to think fast, think fast… I set up my preaching stool and launched into an open air sermon; I wanted the students I was leading to see that we always have to be ready, ready, ready to preach at any given moment with no distractions, in season and out of season, and all that. Nothing should ever—ever—deter us from the importance of Gospel preaching. Nothing. Ever. Too many people die everyday without Christ; we all had to do our part, and we must do it loud. Time was of the essence. Preach it brother!

I did. For thirty seconds.

The crowd rustled, then swayed; I thought I saw it actually part… Hey! There’s John Travolta!

Immediately I felt the call of God to abandon all previous commitments to preaching on the stool. I wanted a picture of the second-most famous Scientologist in the world, preferably, while holding a Gospel tract. Whipping out my camera and taking aim, I tried to focus—then… he disappeared! The crowd dispersed. I lost my audience, didn’t get my picture, and never handed a tract to Travolta.

But a fella from the midwest who was part of the evangelism training did. He handed ole Mr. Saturday Night Fever a million dollar bill which he promptly signed, then handed back. Mr. Midwest evangelist then handed him another—which he kept.

Hopefully he’ll read it and believe,
ensuring that he will be staying alive someday in Heaven.

With head hung low, I slowly climbed back onto onto my preaching stool and shouted salvation half-heartedly to a few people with their backs to me.

But what I really wanted to do was hand a tract to Travolta.

(Note: The crowd was there to see Travolta supporting his friend, former Disney head Michael Eisner, as he got his star installed on the Boulevard. Click here to see the video of my embarrasing moment.)

READ PART 4 HERE!

See Stevie Wonder get a Giant Money tract here.

Tom Cruise was asked, “What drew you to Scientology? Did you grow up in a faith?”
He answered, “Different faiths. Different faiths. And what drew me to it (Scientology)—it was so practical and it just made sense to me, and things that I wanted to figure out in my life…”

Cruise has described Scientology as “an applied religious philosophy that you use in your life to help you… It’s something that helps an individual find out who you are.” -From “What Hollywood Believes” by Ray Comfort www.livingwaters.com

Read about how Tom is actually “The Chosen One” according to Scientologist headquarters.

One of the benefits of sharing our faith on Hollywood Blvd., like we did as members of the Ambassadors’ Academy last week, was that we had the opportunity to meet up with some very strange characters—and sometimes they even wear costumes!

An evangelism student from Texas, Alan Lee, tried to salvage the little green soul of Shrek!

The amazing thing was, he came back to Alan four times, wanting to know more about the way of salvation.

Can’t say the same for Freddy Krueger…

Watch an interview with Freddy Krueger here.

READ PART 3 HERE!

Read about another time, when I tried to give Mickey Mouse a gospel presentation at Disneyland by clicking here.

It was a great time at The Way of the Master’s Ambassadors’ Alliance, an intensive three day evangelism training where I served as a team leader of nine committed evangelists. Nearly fifty people from around the country and around the world came to hear excellent teaching from the staff of WOTM and to be trained—hands on—in Guerrilla Street Witnessing. To read a fully detailed report of all that happened, go to the blog of Tony Miano, the head of the Ambassadors’ Alliance by clicking here.

During the rest of this week I will be providing inside curiosities and weird, wacky stories that we experienced as a team, including: The Salvation of Shrek; The Demon Tree Guy; The Angry Grauman’s Theater Chicken Lady; Persecution by Rent a Bike; and how John Travolta got a Million Dollar bill! Stay tuned…

But right now, witness for yourself the almost-persecution of student John Chisham, a Pastor from Minnesota who attracted the wrong kind of crowd as he started his first open air preaching session on Hollywood Blvd.

John’s big voice and commanding presence attracted a contingent of street security guards. One listened patiently as he preached the Law and Gospel on a corner. What do you think was the outcome?

He listened… listened… very patiently listened…

And his Security team also listened… listened… very patiently listened…

…as we were about to explain that we had a First Amendment right to preach on a street corner in Hollywood.

Believe it or not, they agreed! They only asked that we tone it down a little.

So we agreed!
 
Because “toning it down” is a very subjective opinion.

Read Part 2 here!

Click here to read of another evangelist being surrounded by the police!

Canada—The floor of a church filled with about 1000 people, mostly teens, collapsed during a concert, injuring at least 40 people, one of them seriously.

The youths were at the Central Heights Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia, to hear the Christian rock band Starfield when a large area in front of the stage gave way.

One concertgoer said that minutes before the floor collapsed, the band urged audience members to stop jumping up and down. —L.A. Times, 4/28/08

“How dare you tell me that I’m not a Christian!! I believe Jesus is my Lord and Savior!! Get away from me, now!!”
—A woman’s rebuke to fellow evangelist (and Ambassadors’ Alliance mentor) Ed Lee, after he told her that the Jesus she believed in was not the Jesus of the Bible.
Here’s the full story:
Read the rest of this entry »

Just imagine that you are visiting L.A. from the Midwest, and on your tour of famous landmarks you end up in line at Pink’s World Famous Hotdogs. Now imagine some guy standing on a stool at the front of the line and warning of sin, Judgment Day and Hell, then giving the Good News of the Gospel. What would your reaction be?

No need to imagine any longer; take a look here at some of the customers’ faces as I did just that: Preaching at Pink’s! (Read some of their comments below the video.)

Read some friendly comments from two people who loved the preaching by clicking here.

Read an angry comment that upset my daughter by clicking here.

After months of server problems which caused this blog to be unavailable in the evenings and various times of the day, the problem is fixed. So you can now enjoy E-vangie Tales 24/7, just like in a real first world nation. Suggestion: Never use a server that advertises on the side of a cereal box and offers  X-ray spyglasses with the service…

There is a new ministry at The Way of the Master called The Ambassadors’ Alliance.

This is a hands-on training ministry—sort of like a bootcamp—that takes 50 individuals a month—from around the world!—and trains them in the basics of tract passing, 1-2-1 witnessing, and open air preaching.

After a thorough screening process, would-be evangelists are selected to take part in the Academy for a three day intensive that includes a whole day of classroom training with Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, and many other experts from the WOTM team. The next two days involve excursions to Hollywood Blvd., Huntington Beach, Long Beach and various shopping malls, co-led by mentors (10 evangelists to a mentor) who have extensive evanglistic experience. I’m very pleased and honored to be one of these mentors. And I’m very excited to announce that two of my evangelism leaders, “Righteous Richard” Chavarria and Ed Lee, are mentors as well.  After their three day experience the evangelist-trainees will be released to train up their own church in evangelism using the tools and lessons gleaned from the training.

The head of the Ambassadors’ Alliance is a wonderful friend and expert evangelist, Tony Miano, a fully committed and hard working Christian laborer and Police Chaplain who was the only other guy I know able to witness to The Dollhouse Dude with a straight face.

Next week I will show you first hand, with very revealing photos, what makes Tony fully qualified to lead this ministry. Check out his blog (and his prayer requests for the ministry) by clicking here!

We start this Thursday, so pray for us!

The Way of the Master’s soundman and techie (and all-around nice guy) Scottie, needed our help down in Huntington Beach on Saturday while Ray was away at a conference. He had a challenge on his hands: 47 choir members from a Mennonite Bible School in Pennsyvania were scheduled to visit the rough-hewn Pier where lesser mortals were known to be reduced to tears because of the intense conflict between open air preachers and the incorrigible pagan crowd. (C’mon, Steve. Who has ever been reduced to tears? you ask. Well, my wife and children for instance.)

What would the Mennonite singers think of all this? Would they lose their faith? Would they lose their innocence? What were they thinking coming down to this Philistine encampment in the O.C.?

We were pleasantly surprised!

They came to sing! And boy did they sing! Hallelujah choruses and sanctified songs celebrating the Savior among the sinners and saints! What was the reaction? Rapt attention. While a performer wheeled about on his 15-foot unicycle across the way, the greater audience listened—listened!—to the cherubic voices of the angels.

The Holy in Huntington.

After a few hymns were sung, a succession of preachers stood on the preaching box ready to deliver the message of salvation while the Mennonite singers stood around to listen, also with rapt attention.

Then we preached to the choir!

A young man was shot dead early Saturday in Walnut Park after a wordless exchange of glances at a red light, L.A. County sheriffs deputies said.

The victim, Diego Rey Garcia, 20, of Los Angeles, was driving in a car with one passenger when the vehicle pulled up to a red light at Firestone Blvd. and Alameda St. about 1:40AM, said Lt. Chris Nee.

A black Honda with four to five young Latino men inside pulled up next to them, and one exchanged looks with the driver.

“Nothing was said, but apparently the suspect took exception… got out of the car and fired several rounds at the victim,” Nee said.
—L.A. Times, 3/16/08

It was a simple excursion to the 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica. Little did we know that we would be found outside the law, violating a code that is reserved for the most scurrilous of scumbags… The police had surrounded one of our evangelists. What could we do? I reflected on the words of Prophet/Rock Star Tom Petty: “I fought the law and the law won.”

We have found it beneficial when witnessing in particular areas to begin a session by standing on a stool at the outset and preaching into the air, with or without listeners. We trust that the Word will never return empty; it has an immediate benefit, too: For some reason when we start out this way, people are more receptive to accepting Gospel tracts, and are more open to listening when we share our faith.

Tatsuo Akamine was our starter.

 Tatsuo is used to being ignored. He preaches nearly everyday at our local Department of Motor Vehicles. After preaching there, he goes to the Social Security office where he is promptly ignored again. He’s been cussed at, fish have been tossed at him, someone has even pushed him off his preaching stool in anger. We thought that he would be a great candidate to begin our evangelistic session in ultra-liberal Santa Monica.

We trusted in the Spirit’s power and the fact that if killed, God could raise Tatsuo from the dead.

What we didn’t expect was that he would be under surveilance.

I snuck behind Santa Monica’s finest with my camera to gather evidence should things get out of hand. While Tatsuo preached, another policeman joined the first one.
What were they looking for? Was Tatsuo’s speech considered inflammatory? Is preaching Christ on a street corner in Santa Monica a ticketable offense? Or is it just plain offensive to warn of God’s coming wrath upon all those who sinned against a Holy God?

The code book was brought out and inspected thoroughly.
Tatsuo continued to explain that everyone who broke God’s Law, the 10 Commandments, would be found guilty on Judgment Day and end up in Hell.

“Excuse me,” I interrupted as the Officer looked intently upon the not-so-perfect law of the Westside. “Excuse me. It’s our First Amendment right to speak here.”

The Officer turned to me, and in a slightly exasperated tone replied, “Yes, sir. We are very well aware of that.”

Then they found something and rushed to get Tatsuo!
What did they find? Was it “narrow-mindednessness without a cause”? Could it be that they didn’t like the fact that there was only one way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ?

They caught him red-handed!

The violation? Speaking on a stool. Seriously. The ordinance is called “Pure Speaking,” which allows a person to speak only when standing on the ground.

I tapped Tatsuo gently on the shoulder and signaled for him to come off the stool. The Officers watched silently. He stepped down and never missed a beat as he pleaded for all men everywhere to repent and put their trust in the Savior.
Pure Preaching!

 R.A. Torrey (1856-1928) said this in an article on open-air preaching:

Get permission from the powers that be to hold open-air meetings. Do not get into conflict with the police if you can possibly avoid it. As a rule it is quite easy to get this permission if you go about it in a courteous and intelligent way. Find out what the laws of the city are in this regard, and then observe them. Go to the captain of the precinct and tell him that you wish to hold an open-air meeting, and let him see that you are not a disturber of the peace or a crank. Many would-be open-air preachers get into trouble from a simple lack of good sense and common decency.

Read about another incident where Tatsuo encountered the police here.

My radio interview with KKLA talk show host Frank Pastore went well on Monday. We chatted for about seven minutes and talked a whole lot about evangelism (I was in between a segment featuring evangelist Greg Laurie). As soon as I get the CD of the segment, I will post it. The cool thing is that he wants to talk further next week…

This comes from an article in Parade magazine, October 2, 2007.

By the time he entered college, Pitt had scuttled his fundamentalist beliefs.
“When I got untethered from the comfort of religion, it wasn’t a loss of faith for me, it was a discovery of self,” he says. “I had faith that I’m capable enough to handle any situation. There’s peace in understanding that I have only one life, here and now, and I’m responsible.”

BY TATSUO AKAMINE

(This is a wonderful testimony about how God is showing His favor as we preach the Gospel in unconventional places. Tatsuo has been preaching nearly everyday at our local Social Security since starting last year. On Thursday, you will read about how Tatsuo was surrounded by the police at the 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica.)

As I approached my preaching point at the Torrance Social Security Office, the Torrance P.D. was already waiting for me. I knew they were called out because of my open air preaching. The officer walked towards me and asked me if I was Mr. Akamine. I answered, “Yes, I am.”
He knew that I was familiar with my First Amendment Rights which I had rehearsed to him. In addition, I asked the officer if he would like to stay and listen to my sermon. He accepted the offer and listened intently as I preached my message; I knew it was convicting him as well. After I finished I stepped down from my portable stand and said, “Well, that’s it Officer.”Moments later his Supervisor approached us; he also knew me. They both had a look that said: “I find no fault in him.” They let me go.

Read the reactions of the people standing in line by clicking here.

Read about a man who pushed Tatsuo off his preaching stool by clicking here.

(If you are regularly sharing your faith, sooner or later you will be hassled by people with badges, especially if you are an open air preacher. I found a great 12-point list of what to do—and what not to do—when confronted by the police. Copy this and memorize the protocols… before it’s too late!)

1. Always speak in a professional manner. “Yes Sir, No Sir” is an absolute rule. No Street Preacher serves a righteous cause in being publicly rude to an officer. Your attitude will go on the report and will meet with the same disrespect.

2. Always designate one person in charge to talk with the police. This is a no exception rule. Read the rest of this entry »

99.5 KKLA is the largest Christian radio station in America.
Former Reds pitcher, Frank Pastore, a top rated talk show host at the station, came out yesterday to honor our church, Hope Chapel, and my Pastor Zac Nazarian, with their “Church of the Week” award.

Unfortunately, they have found that 40% of those who listen to KKLA don’t attend a local church; this is their way of promoting fellowship and community. The cool thing is, I had the opportunity to hand Frank, a former atheist, a special award of his own: The Giant Money Gospel tract. He never saw anything like it.

I also gave him a copy of the book “The Way of the Master” to show him what our church is doing evangelistically using Ray Comfort’s excellent resource.

Tonight, I will be interviewed live about what my church is doing at 6PM PST. Think I’ll be mentioning a little about evangelism? (Go to www.KKLA.com for the live stream of the broadcast, and pray that utterance woud be given me.)

Here is another open air offering from our excursion to the Academy Awards in February.

This time we preached on the south side of Hollywood Blvd., right across the street from that Kansas hate church who were waving their “God Hates” signs. I emphasized that we were there to bring a message of love, so we wouldn’t be confused with that church. Since traffic is stopped on Academy Award’s day, our voices carried like we were in a canyon, and people could hear us across that great Boulevard (you’ll see the people waving in response to some of my questions). A couple of guitar players played softly next to us, graciously letting us preach next to them… until they heard our Gospel message. Then they tried to amp up the volume to drown us out, to no avail.

What good is all this open air preaching? Is it really effective? Read this article by Charles Spurgeon to get a little perspective.

Listen to our first Academy Awards sermon here.

Read an adventure from last year’s awards ceremony with all the colorful characters who inhabit this place by clicking here.