The vast majority of the interactions I have with people on the street are friendly. Yes, believe it or not, they’re just wonderful little interactions where I get to present the Law and Gospel to individuals who are more than happy to listen to what God has to say through me. No violence. No rock throwing. No shouting matches. Most of the time—again, believe it or not—people listen and are indeed concerned with their eternal salvation… like these two nice guys. (Note: Listen to the “Rabbit Trail” questions. How did I answer? Tomorrow, I’ll explain how to deal with them.)
This is an interview with Freddy Krueger from two years ago in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. You can see by this guy’s body language that the Law was working on him.
This simple Gospel presentation has garnered over 19,500 viewings. Don’t underestimate the evangelistic potential of YouTube, even when you encounter a few sound problems.
If he doesn’t repent soon, Freddy’s sequel will truly be terrifying because there ain’t no Elm Street in Hell…
That’s right. This man preached inside IN-N-OUT Burger. Before you pass judgment, watch the 3 minute video then read the back story and my commentary below. Then let me know if you think this was proper.
You never know what can happen during an evangelism outing. People get fired up, God moves and… well, just read the Book of Acts in the Bible!
After a day of sharing our faith on Hollywood Blvd. the evangelism team stopped into the Hollywood IN-N-OUT Burger to grab a bite to eat. Val Scott saw how crowded the place was and said to me, “Man, look at all these people! I want to preach!”
Being the leader of this team it was my responsibilty to see that no one did anything foolish, like preaching inside an IN-N-OUT Burger where there could possibly be some problems. I was on the horns of a dilemma: There were probably a good number of people in the place that would die and go to Hell, maybe even this afternoon. But to preach inside of a restaurant? That’s just not proper, nor respectable. Still, who am I to stop someone from preaching the Gospel? “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16)
I thought about it a moment as Val eagerly anticipated my answer. “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16) Was I ashamed, afraid of what people would think? I was responsible for this team, after all.
Jesus stood up in the synagogue and preached the good news to the Jews, then he rebuked them unexpectedly, causing the Jews to drive him out of town. His message wasn’t very well received, and dare I say, not appropiate. The disciples were forbidden to preach but they did, and with gusto.
IN-N-OUT had no signs stating that it was illegal to preach; it was to be a short message, ninety seconds or so, kind of like singing the “Happy Birthday” song three times. I gave Val my answer: “Go for it, but let’s eat first.”
So he did—after we handed out Million Dollar Bill Gospel tracts to nearly everyone in the place. Our camerman was asked to leave (there were no signs saying that we couldn’t film), so he placed his camera against the window. Val spoke politely, yet firmly. A few people shouted “Hell!” when they were asked where they would go (remember, this was Hollywood). A customer tried to stop him to no avail. Then it was done. A Christian woman thanked him outside and said “Praise God!”
Then Val said in a panic, “Quick! Let’s go! They’re calling the police; I don’t want to go to jail!”
Horatius Bonar (1808-1889) wrote this:
Why then should our preaching be less fervent, our appeals less affectionate, our importunity less urgent? We are a few steps farther from the shore of eternity; that is all. Time may be a little longer than it was then, yet only a very little. Its everlasting issues are still as momentous, as unchangeable. Surely it is our UNBELIEF that makes the difference! It is unbelief that makes ministers so cold in their preaching, so slothful in visiting, and so remiss in all their sacred duties. It is unbelief that chills the life and straitens the heart. It is unbelief that makes ministers handle eternal realities with such irreverence. It is unbelief that makes them ascend with so light a step, “that awful place the pulpit,” to deal with immortal beings about heaven and hell.
Don’t try this at home… Due to circumstances beyond my control I literally had to preach in the street!
At the recent Labor Day Fiesta Hermosa, where 100,000 people converge for a 3 day partying street festival, I had to risk life and limb while preaching the good news at the shuttle bus line. Why? It just seemed like the most effective place to reach everyone. And actually, it wasn’t as dangerous as it sounds: The street was closed, except for the shuttle buses that would come through every five minutes or so.
In this 5 minute video there is some real drama taking place. As I start to preach, an angry young man stands next to me hoping to distract the onlookers and rattle my cage. I ignore him. His parents plead for him to stop the foolishness, but he ignores them. My friend then tries to reason with the young man but he, too, is ignored. Finally, Security surrounds me, and I ignore them. The shuttle bus comes, and I don’t ignore it, I scurry away. (Security very politely asked me to move to the sidewalk where it was safer; I complied willingly.) Note: The sound is a little rough, so turn your volume down a bit.
Please notice that I applied the “Three Do-Nots” of open air preaching by not holding a bible, standing on something and smiling, peppering my sermonette with a little humor. (Read that article here.)
The top two dreaded messages congregations hate most are sermons on GIVING and EVANGELISM; I was to speak on the latter—for two weeks! How could I get the church to listen, enjoy, and most importantly, apply the principles they would hear so that they would go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation?
I had been wanting to speak about the eight reasons Christians have for not sharing their faith after seeing the very funny (and well done) video (see below). I had to wait two years to do it, though. The reason? Well, after having my life changed by listening to Ray Comfort’s message, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” in July 2005, the next five out of six messages I delivered were on evangelism. So every time that I would have the opportunity to speak in place of my Senior Pastor, people would silently groan, “Oh no… another message on evangelism.”
So I waited… I waited for two years and one month to be exact, to preach my next message on witnessing. And I decided to use liberal amounts of humor to get the message across. Also, I had a tract table in the lobby loaded down with between 7-10,000 tracts for the congregation to grab after each of the four services. The good news? We nearly ran out of tracts.
This is one crazy video. A drunken Al Pacino look-a-like thinks he’s Tony Montana from the movie Scarface. I made the not-so-wise choice of interviewing him on what he believes. He shouts, swears (bleeped out), and makes a huge ruckus. I take advantage of the gathering crowd and stand on a stool to preach, using Mr. Scarface as a springboard for preaching the Gospel. Then my stool breaks. Mr. Scarface finishes it all up with a rousing harmonica solo. Whew! Talk about things going wrong…
This is an ad that your church can use if you’d like. It’s only 1:40 long and is generic in nature, so you can adapt it to your evangelism class at church (see below for details).
Our next class called “Sharing Your Faith Without Fear” starts on Thursday night, August 14, for 6 weeks. If you are in the L.A. area, please join us!
If you would like a copy of this promo for your church, then click here for details. (more…)
This is a sneak peak of a great four minute video from Living Waters.
Two big stars. Million dollar bill Gospel tracts. Steven Spielberg in the crowd. Excitement! Will John Travolta and Holly Hunter take the Gospel tracts offered to them?
“What difference will all your evangelism efforts make?”
Have you ever heard a skeptic ask that one? We all know that when sharing our faith we are planting and watering seeds, but it’s God Who causes them to grow. If you are tired of the doubtful casting stones upon your witnessing wisdom, then sing this little song as a reminder that all your evangelism efforts are not in vain.
This two minute song was written by our church’s Children’s Worship Team and it will leave you hummin’. Yee-Haw!
If for some reason you can’t see the video, click here!
Atheist week (which started on April 1) continues…
A little over a year ago, I made a video response to “The Blasphemy Challenge,” a very popular “contest” that challenges fools to deny the Holy Spirit. It was featured in the monthly ”The Way of the Master” Newblast and exposed many atheists to the Gospel. I am rerunning it now in the hope that you will be inspired to post a covert Gospel message of your own to their site.
If you’ve never heard of, or are unfamiliar with “The Blasphemy Challenge,” then click on the video below and see what it is about. Let me caution you though, it is a disturbing video for all those who love Christ. It is important that you see it so that you know what we are up against.
After viewing it, then watch my video, and read my strategy for getting the Word out to this crowd.
Now watch my video that has been posted to “The Blasphemy Challenge” website for over a year (and has been seen by nearly 7,000 viewers). I posted it under a new “Channel” that I created called “Darwino Video” (Get it? Darwin-NO). One atheist viewed it and wrote: “lol. very clever video. I am still atheist though. Not convinced with the message. But well done. Much better lighting in your video than most others also.”
Now watch it for yourself and tell me if you think that it would be effective if thousands of Christians posted their own guerrilla videos to “The Blasphemy Challenge” website.
Oh no! The atheists are on the attack! (Gotta blame it on someone…)
My home computer crashed and the server for my blog has been erratic, therefore I cannot guarantee any new postings until Monday, March 31. But check out these stories and videos from the archives in the meantime.
Right across the street from Oscar I launched into a seven minute sermon. Would the stars be offended at the message delivered on this most hallowed of Hollywood nights? Would the thousands of gawkers consider me foolish for preaching the cross at the crossroads of Hollywood and Highland?
I sure hoped so…
This was one of about ten sermons that we preached at various corners across from the Red Carpet. Unfortunately, the hate church from Kansas was also there on another corner, so we had to distinguish ourselves from them. I actually started out my sermons talking about love, God’s love, so the crowds would know we weren’t out there to hate. I would say, “I come to you with a message of love. I want to tell you how much God loves you. But before I can tell you that, I need to tell you the bad news first….” I would then launch into the 10 Commandments, Judgment Day and Hell, followed by the really Good News of God’s love through Christ.
Across the street from where I was preaching one lost member from The Westboro Baptist Church waved her sign declaring boldly that “God Hates!” I just can’t understand why someone would want to magnify God’s hate. There were horrible, awful signs declaring that “Heath Ledger is in Hell” and that God hates certain people groups. One of those people groups stood behind the “haters” with signs declaring “God loves everyone!”
An overemphasis of any of God’s qualities is idolatry; it was a good thing we were there to set the record straight: The bad news is that God hates sin and anyone who has broken any of God’s commandments is a sinner. God’s wrath is such that all liars will have their part in the lake of burning sulfur; the sexually immoral and all thieves will not inherit the Kingdom of God. BUT! God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Whoever repents of their sin and puts their trust in Christ will have their sins forgiven. That’s love; that’s God’s love! Better than any stinkin’ trophy…Read last year’s account of our Academy Awards adventure by clicking here!
I have two very courteous interviews with American Indians posted to YouTube. 90% of the comments (and there are hundreds of them) are fully against me because they think that I’m insulting the two “elders” with my beliefs. My problem is two-fold:
I have few Christians coming to my defense.
I don’t have the time to bring a consistent Christian response to these people, therefore most of the comments go unanswered. I just let my interview do the witnessing.
Here’s how I need your help: If you have some extra time, will you courteously answer some of the Indians’ objections? I moderate the comments at YouTube because some of the responses have been quite nasty, so you will have to wait a little for the answers to post.
Here is a new evangelism ad that we will be showing at our church to promote my latest class, “Sharing Your Faith Without Fear.” It is less than 2 minutes long and drives the point home. If you’d like a copy for your church (it’s easily adaptable), the cost will only be $5.00 (to cover the postage and handling and DVD). Just leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.
Three weeks ago I wrote about preaching in front of the Porta-Potties at the Tournament of Roses Parade (read it here). But now, see it live! It’s in two parts because we were suddenly interrupted by the police and had to reposition ourselves!
The first part is only three minutes long, and yes, I made two verbal errors; see if you can hear them. In part 2 below (a little over a minute long), notice the man who hurriedly exits out of the Potty. Was it conviction or did he think I was just full of it?
This is a new tradition: Repeating this post at Christmas time.
Sufferin’ for the Savior with Santa in SoCal ain’t easy, but someone has to do it! I gave ole St. Nick a tip that he will never forget (I think he works for minimum wage and never gets Christmas off, poor guy). I just hope that he reads and believes the Gospel message on the back of the bill. As good a person as this jolly fellow is, all his good works toward all the children in the world still won’t save him. WOE! WOE! WOE! Below, please find two videos that your family and friends will enjoy for the holidays. The first is the Christmas linebacker; you will absolutely crack up when you watch this. The second is a fun little interview I had with “Gene Simmons,” formerly of the rock band KISS. The video is called “Kiss, Off! because as you will see the guy is a little off…
I’ll be taking a few days off from blogging, but will return on Thursday. So grab a mug of eggnog or hot chocolate, gather around the computer screen and rejoice while watching the following two videos with those you love.
THE CHRISTMAS LINEBACKER Watch this hilarious video featuring a hard-hitting linebacker who “punishes” all those who take the Christ out of Christmas. Click here to watch the video from SermonSpice.
KISS, OFF! A strange conversation with a confused man…
Just because someone says they are a Christian does not mean that they are a Christian; talk is cheap. Not many Christians know why they are Christians even if they are Christians. This poor guy didn’t really know what he believes, so I explained to him what he should believe. Then he sang a little song. Below, please read some tips on how to deal with people who may be false converts.
This is one of my favorite interviews from “The Way of the Master” T.V. show called “The Greatest Gamble,” an episode about the reasonableness and rationality of Hell. Ray Comfort interviews a hardened, cold, uncaring gambler/hustler on the street of Sin City, and despite the man’s aloof responses to eternal truths, Ray perseveres until the man reflects a glimmer of concern.
In a recent sermon, I taught on “The Fear of the Lord.” As an illustration, I video-taped people answering the question: Do you fear God? Of course, very few did—no surprise. This is why we hit the Fiesta Hermosa on Labor Day weekend with a vengeance. People don’t understand—don’t want to understand, nor believe—that they are “condemned already” because of their sin and unbelief in God’s one and only Son (John 3:18), and that “God’s wrath remains on [them].” (John 3:36)
As long as people are lost, we will be out there, even when we are considered “out there.” (Read part 5 here!)
Every now and then a miracle happens: One sinner repents, the angels in Heaven rejoice—and we get it on film.
Please pray that this young man will make his calling and election sure by continuing to walk in the truth and persevering till the end.
Why is there a question mark in the title of this video? Well… a prayer doesn’t save you. I’m hopeful that this young man was sincere. But I trust that God saves to the uttermost.
A few weeks back the evangelism team visited the Palos Verdes Street Fair in the wealthy section of town. There was not one Christian booth represented in the entire festival but plenty of New Age adherents, palm readers, and alternative medicine booths were at hand.
This very friendly interview with hypnotherapist Duncan Tooley gives a little insight into non-traditional therapies, and shows how God’s Moral Law, the 10 Commandments, does its work in the heart of a sinner. Even though Duncan was not favorably disposed to the Gospel presentation, God’s Word does not return empty…
Read two reviews from viewers on YouTube below to gauge how people responded to this video… and post yours, too!
This is from: abundantuniverse (4 days ago) “Here Satan owns and uses his microphone to entrap good people in his classic, circular thinking and position that God is unforgiving and thus all are destined for hell… if you don’t agree with him. This is a shameful video and a clear example of rigid bible-thumbing and is sickening to watch. The hypnotist should have struck Satan out of righteous anger.”
jacnmkc (1 day ago): Wow!!! Good job Steve. I think he was starting to get little nervous near the end.”
Our church ordered 2,500,000 Million-Dollar Bill Gospel tracts last year with the intention of handing out one million in one year. So far, we have handed out nearly 300,000 in the L.A. area. They are the best tract ever! (Order your bills here from Living Waters!!!)
Why are they so popular? Everybody want a million dollar bill! Why do Christians love them? The full-on Gospel is written on the back—The 10 Commandments, Judgment Day, Hell, Jesus—the works! It has never been easier to share your faith.
A 12-year-old girl from our concregation, Erin McClain, created a very simple animated ode to this hallowed Gospel tract on her computer; it was entered into a talent show and won special mention. See this 2 minute video for yourself:
This is a short 2-minute video that we made to advertise our most recent evangelism class. You will notice that God uses ordinary, normal people to do some extraordinary things—just like 2000-years ago!
This is one of the funniest videos I have ever seen. It’s short, to the point—and packs a whallop! Make sure you do what the linebacker says, or…watch-out! Turn up the volume for this one.
Fearless “Tract-ors” Richard (Righteous Richard) Chavarria and Michael Reid, demonstrate how to hand out Million-dollar bill Gospel tracts to unsuspecting diners in this 3-minute video. These guys are not chickens; they are demonstrating the technique for those who are (you may want to give this a try).
For an entirely different version of “The Drop,” click here!
The first thing I do in my evangelism classes is teach everybody the 10 Commandments. Now you have the opportunity to learn them too!
The 10 commandments are fundamental to effective witnessing because the law is written on everyone’s heart—it’s called the conscience—(Romans 2:15); it’s so important that every Christian should know them, but sadly, most don’t. The Bible also says that the Law (the 10 Commandments) stops a sinner from justifying himself and brings knowledge of sin (Romans 3:19-20); the Law is a schoolmaster that leads people to Christ (Galatians 3:24); and the Law is for sinners (1 Timothy 8-10).
So use the Law, talk of impending Judgment, and the penalty of Hell should anyone break just one commandment… and then stand back and watch as hardened atheists, touchy-feely tree-huggers, cult members, and even wishy-washy Christians pay attention.
I think you will agree that this hilarious video does a great job of identifying the lame excuses Christians have for not sharing their faith! This is from The REBELution website.
Sometimes things go wrong—desperately wrong! What do you do when the people you are sharing with act a little crazy—or a lot crazy—like these two strange people just off Hollywood Blvd.? You must maintain your cool, don’t get distracted, and speak in a low measured voice, always presenting the moral law of God so it can do its work in the conscience—regardless of the outward results! Don’t feel obligated to present the good news of Jesus Christ to the hardened and unrepentant either or they will trample your pearls underfoot… CAUTION: Due to some offensive language, viewer discretion is advised!
The counter above is ticking off the number of people who have died since opening this web page. The vast majority of those people are entering Hell. Christ commanded his followers to share the Gospel with those who are perishing... who have you shared with today?
Horatius Bonar (1808-1889) wrote this:
So every time that I would have the opportunity to speak in place of my Senior Pastor, people would silently groan, “Oh no… another message on evangelism.”
90% of the comments (and there are hundreds of them) are fully against me because they think that I’m insulting the two “elders” with my beliefs. My problem is two-fold:
But now, see it live! It’s in two parts because we were suddenly interrupted by the police and had to reposition ourselves!
Watch this hilarious video featuring a hard-hitting linebacker who “punishes” all those who take the Christ out of Christmas. 
