Stone the Preacher

The attitude toward Christians and God at the 39th Annual West Hollywood Gay Pride Parade is distilled perfectly in this conversation with a gay man. He was so intent on defending his views and positions about religious people and their Creator that I couldn’t—and wouldn’t—tell him the Gospel. Why would I bother explaining how he can be saved from Hell when there was no conviction of sin, and God, in his eyes, is “a moron”? (Please start at Part 1 by clicking here.)

I had to speak loudly because behind me was the sound of war….

Click here for the conclusion: How to have the right attitude while sharing your faith in a hostile area.

One of the best ways to begin preaching in the open air is to start small. Most cities have at least one busy intersection; why not use it to the Lord’s advantage? This 5 minute video will give you everything you need to know to deliver a 30-50 second Stop Light Gospel message. You will find it quite amusing, I’m sure.

To read about our Stop Light preaching experience in Huntington Beach, and to get the text of the message we preach, click here!

Sometimes people get offended and walk away when confronted with the fact that they will be held accountable before a holy God in an evangelistic presentation. Is it conviction?

In March I attended an anti-war protest march in Hollywood with the intention of reaching as many counter-cultural people as possible (read the series starting here). The two people in this interview, one a lesbian woman, the other a wannabe Communist, split the scene before our conversation ended. 

Saturday, May 2: Redondo Beach Pier
Meet at Hope Chapel, Hermosa Beach, 2420 PCH, Hermosa Beach @ noon to carpool. Returning around 4PM

Saturday, May 9: Hollywood Blvd.
Meet at Hope Chapel, Hermosa Beach, 2420 PCH, Hermosa Beach @ noon to carpool. Returning around 5:30PM

Thursday, May 14: Sharing Your Faith Without Fear
This 6 week class is designed to make you into a fearless Biblical Christian. This class is free with pre-registration. Call 310-374-4673. $15.00 at the door.

Saturday, May 16: Torrance Armed Forces Day Parade SPECIAL MEETING TIME: 11AM
Meet at Hope Chapel, Hermosa Beach, 2420 PCH, Hermosa Beach to carpool. Parade starts at 1:30pm. Returning around 4:30PM

Memorial Weekend, May 23-25: Fiesta Hermosa
We will have an Intelligence Test booth at the fair all weekend, from 9AM-6PM. 50 volunteers needed to help!

Saturday May 30: Venice Beach
Meet at Hope Chapel, Hermosa Beach, 2420 PCH, Hermosa Beach @ noon to carpool. Returning around 5:00PM

***Now watch this great video from Living Waters University on how to talk to someone who believes
they are a Christian but has no
understanding of what salvation means.***

If you haven’t seen this video yet, then you are in for a hilarious treat. The reknowned Oxford Don and “Pope of Atheism,” Richard Dawkins, is afraid to debate the unschooled, unlearned, simple everyman, Ray Comfort. Find out why…

And here’s the latest from Living Waters University:

Now you’re up to date! 

This man was mad as heck and wasn’t going to take it anymore. He was an ex-Morman, an ex-prostitute, and thought all Christians were hypocrites. His sign said, ”Who Would Jesus Bomb?” (How about Sodom and Gomorah for starters?)  In other words, he was just another leftist protester we encountered at the A.N.S.W.E.R. LA anti-war protest held in Hollywood on March 21, 2009. (Please read the start of this series by clicking here.)

I tried reasoning with him about the truth of the Gospel and his eternal destination; he wanted no part of Heaven because people like me would be there. This was so sad.

Why was this man standing in front of the thousands of other Socialist marchers who were gathered just a few feet away? “I’m blocking them,” he said, as he pointed to a group of “Christian” Sign Guys, who were loudly shouting abusive, incendiary comments at the protesters.

Watch my 5 minute interview with David… then pray for this poor, tortured soul’s heart.

NEXT, IN PART 8, SEE A TEASER OF WHAT HAPPENED WHEN WE STARTED TO PREACH TO THESE PEOPLE IN THE OPEN AIR—AND THE VIOLENCE ONE PROTESTER PERPETRATED ON A MEMBER OF OUR TEAM; CLICK HERE!

The essence of the type of person we encountered at A.N.S.W.E.R. LA’s anti-war protest in Hollywood was distilled in this man. Listen to his self-justification, the rabbit trails, his refusal to see clearly who he is in the mirror of God’s 10 Commandments; then pray for him.
(Please read the start of this series by clicking here.)

My M.O. for this interview was to get the word out. I didn’t have much time because the protest march was drawing near and this man had his own agenda; you will see that he wasn’t tracking with me very well. I had to trust that God’s Word never returns empty, that why I had to preach to him a little bit.

Now, click here for part 7 to see the interview with the “Who Would Jesus Bomb?” guy.

On one side of the street was a “Christian” man holding Bible signs and shouting bilious diatribes to the protesters across the street. On the other, whole mobs of anti-Bush, anti-Cheney, anti-meat, anti-Israel—anti-everything—children of the sixties and their anti-children, were gearing up for a good old-fashioned fist-shaking anger party. The only thing these people were for was protesting! (Please, you must read the start of this series by clicking here to get the whole context.)

What an exciting opportunity to share our faith, and we did, at the A.N.S.W.E.R. LA anti-war march in Hollywood. As intimidating as all this may seem,  we were able to get a Gospel tract into nearly every hand of the would-be Socialists—and we preached in the open air during a strange ritual called a “die-in” (more on that next week).

How did we do it? The Apostle Paul wrote that he had “become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22) Our strategy was simple: We became “war-protesters.” Heck, I was even able to lead these people into a rhythmic chant of my own. But seeing is believing…

(Note: There are a few “glitches” on the video, but it will still play all the way through.)

Click here to read Part 5 where I do the “Protest Banner Limbo.” You don’t want to miss it.

What do you say to a person who won’t be serious as you present the gospel? What if he mocks you, laughs at you? 

You stay serious.

Hope Chapel
2420 Pacific Coast Hwy
Hermosa Beach, Ca. 90254
310.374.4673 x121
pastorsteveathope@yahoo.com

How frustrating! Catholics believe all the major tenets of our faith, but fall quite a bit short of the truth. Here’s how to handle that… (After watching this, click here to see a lady loudly reciting a “Hail Mary” as she heckled “Righteous Richard” Chavarria during a Notre Dame vs. USC football game last year. USC won.)

This little 2 minute video shows how easy and fun it can be to share your faith using Gospel tracts. At El Camino College I found a line of students waiting to get financial aid for tuition. I happened to have Gospel tracts in the form of giant $100 bills and million dollar bills; the students were all too happy to accept them… except one: An Atheist.

Living Waters has a great new presidential million dollar bill tract.

In addition to a great Gospel presentation written on the back there is also a pro-life message discreetly written next to the seal on the left front: “Abortion Stops a Human Heart.”

In these desperate times, we need to preach life to the perishing in any way we can!

I loved this interview with a very exhuberant man on the Huntington Pier (where we will be going this Saturday).

It’s been two years since I posted a video response to “The Blasphemy Challenge,” a YouTube event that encourages the ignorant and foolish to “deny the Holy Spirit” on video, and has so far encouraged thousands upon thousands of people to risk eternal Hell by committing “the unpardonable sin.”

Now we all know that it takes a lot more than just making a silly video denying the Holy Spirit that condemns someone for eternity; it’s actually a life that is unrepentant toward God, a life that lives for sin, and dies in sin, unforgiven, because they have not trusted in the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because most atheists—or wannabe atheists—don’t really understand what constitutes an unpardonable sin and probably have no understanding of what standard God will judge them by, I made a little video that starts out like one of their “Challenge” videos, only with an evangelistic twist. To date, my “channel” made especially for this occasion, has received over 7,000 viewings, with nearly 200 mostly angry, nasty comments from atheists who didn’t know they were going to get a Gospel message when they viewed it.

 What a great way to get the word out! One problem: They pulled my video! Who did? Don’t know, they didn’t ask me. As I was writing this, I checked on the video and… POOF! Gone!

No problem. On this two year anniversary of “The Blasphemy Challenge 666″ video, I decided to post it to yet another YouTube account of mine. And Bam! Fresh new atheists! What a treat! Read some of their reviews below:

Atheist Reviews (typos and all)

DarkTheAtheist wrote:Your an Atheist, you don’t believe in Zeus, Allah, Baal, Atlas, Bellona, Brahma, Apollo, Dagon, Vishnu, Uzume, Thor, Shu, Shiva, Poseidon, Osiris, Seti, Anubis, Mars, Mithras, Krishna and so on. You don’t believe in any deity other than your deity. I just go one deity further, Proud Atheist! and you need to believe that there are atheists cause your one too.

If you haven’t subscribed yet to The Way of the Master weekly newsletter then you are missing out. Each issue provides excellent evangelistic tips and resources, including these videos that I will post every week. I’m learning a lot by watching Ray Comfort handle his various interviewees. Subscription info is provided on each video.

Was she cursing or blessing us? You be the judge as you watch this one minute portion of “Righteous Richard” Chavarria preaching to an organic congregation composed of Notre Dame fans.

Before their big game with USC last weekend we spotted this little crowd and thought it to be an opportune time to give the Gospel. One lady apparently didn’t like it. Another man shouted, “We don’t need God; we’re Catholics!”

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? Next week, I’ll explain how to deal with them.)

Culture of Death week continues…

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.

So here ya go. If you’d like to listen to the two sermons, I think you will enjoy them. Click here, then go to August 22, 2008 for Part 1; for Part 2, go to August 31, 2008. You have a choice between Quicktime or MP3.

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?

I was preaching on a box in front of Travolta when this took place—and I totally blew it! What did I do? Click here to find out what happened.

“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!

See an animated rap video homage to our church’s use of the Million-Dollar Bill Gospel tract here! It was done on computer by a 12-year-old girl!

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.

Link: The Blasphemy Challenge

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.

Link: The Blasphemy Challenge Guerrilla Action

Read the Fox News interview with the creator of “The Blasphemy Challenge.”

Read a Christian’s response to “The Blasphemy Challenge” by clicking here!

See another type of Blasphemy Challenge made by Christians and aimed at Christians by clicking here.

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.

The theme will be Different People Groups:

Witnessing gone bad at the Hindu Barbeque

The Demonized Buddhist in China

Witnessing to the Homosexual Community

At Venice Beach

Video: A very friendly interview with a lesbian

Video: Two drug addicted anarchists on Hollywood Blvd.

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!

Listen to a second preaching session with a little twist 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:

1.  I have few Christians coming to my defense.
2.  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 are the two videos:

Click here to see (and comment to) Pow Wow Ka-Pow!

 
Click here to see (and comment to) Powwow Ka-pow Ciao! #2

Read the story of our adventure at another Powwow, called “Bluster’s Last Stand” here.

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.