Street Preachers

How many did Noah get into the ark? He was a preacher of righteousness ya' know.

"As in the days of Noe, so shall it be..." (Jim's paraphrase of our Lords' words.)

How many folks listened to Isaiah? Jeremiah? Ezekiel? Amos? Joel? et al...

How did Jesus call His disciples you ask? He walked right up to them on the street and told them "Follow Me". Can't think of a single one that He was "Buddy-buddy" with before He told them to follow.

You say, :"Based on results..."? Whose results? Moody? Whitefield? Edwards? Sunday? Wesley? Your qualification that most people come to Christ through a friend is limited to the 20th century. I would say that most people of all ages heard the one "crying in the streets".

Biblical model not working? "Lift up your voice, spare not". I didn't say that. God did. And God will call whom He will. Perhaps some folks need to get their eyes off of man and back onto God and simply trust and obey. This nation is in a pit because "preachers" are soft peddling "religion" and the world laughs at them.
I would much rather be laughed at for calling aloud in the streets so that all passersby could hear that God is alive and will judge sin; instead of being laughed at for "weak religion".

"Is God dead because..." Stupid question isn't it?

In HIS service;
Jim

 

If you think yelling in the streets is the only biblical model, you are wrong.

Jesus sent them out two by two also.

In the NT we also see a lot of personal evangelism also.

You are living in the past in a fantasy world. Welcome to the real world.

Try yelling in the streets in a communist country. If you do some research you will find that where the church is growing the most is in areas of the world where persecution is.

Figure it out for yourself. If you won one person to Christ each year and discipled them in such a way that they did the same thing, how many people would you reach at the end of 30 years? The answer is 536,870,912. How does that compare to those who have come to Christ through the great evangelistic events.

Blame it on the preacher? Not all can be blamed on the preacher. How did Jesus do with Judas? What I found when I started pastoring was absolutely disgusting. I had come from a parachurch organization where students were serious. Most of them had come from non-Christian homes. They shared their faith, prayed, discipled other students and led Bible studies.

But when I came to the church I got a lot of rebellion and disobedience from people who told me they were uncomfortable knocking on doors with me. In one church I even had two deacons come up to me and tell me not to ask them to pray publically in church.

I have done open air preaching and found it never compared to the number who could be reached through discipleship.

I knocked on 75 to 200 doors each month and found it hard to get those lazy folks in the church out of their homes and meeting people. They often would talk about some program. I told them God's program was them. Many of them hardly knew their neighbors. Yet, they were so busy going to church that they didn't spend the time to get to know their neighbors. I knew more about many of their neighbors than they did because I met them while knocking on doors.

The issue is not that preachers won't preach against sin. It is more often the disobedient sitting in the pews.

Never once have I ever heard non-believers come against me in a church because I preached hard. I have seen many come to Christ. But I have had plenty of deacons come against me because I asked them to go knocking on doors with me.

I do believe there are many preachers who are afraid of losing their jobs and want a position but there are many who are not.

You are right. Jesus did walk up to those He called. It wasn't some big trumped up evangelistic event somewhere.

Over and over I hear people talking about how the US needs revival while they sit home and watch TV. They complain, but do little about their complaints.

If the average pastor did require every deacon to be discipling people they would probably run him out of town. He would be seen as too hard on them.

Just look at who gave Jesus trouble--the religious folks.

 

No insult intended... but things may be different in Iowa. In New Orleans... street preaching is extremely necessary and important. People respect a man who is going to stand in the midst of the filth. I know.. and.. I am no stranger to it. You dont see a lot of fruits.. but seeds are planted. And.. you have to do it the right way. A message of salvation offering forgiveness for all those who will call upon the Lord... I mean, you cant get out there and just preach condemnation.

 

I have only lived in Iowa for about nine months but the people in the town where I live seem to bew receptive to spiritual things and from what I see it is one of the most exciting places I have lived. The churches are doing well and so are the parachurch organizations on the university campus. Over the years a lot of staff members for the Navigators have come from the university here.

I have been all over the world and shared the gospel in those places. The hardest and least receptive places I have found have been where there is a religious culture mixed in with the secular culture.

What works well one place may not work well at all in another. But the Holy Spirit always gives wisdom in every place and culture.

I seriously doubt that God cares how we give out the good news. What he does care is that we share the good news in ways that are authentic and make disciples.

If we look at scripture we see many ways the good news was shared. Bill Hybels and Mark Mittelberg do a good job of showing that in the bookBecoming a Contagious Christian.

Many years ago I trained a young man to do discipleship and evangelism. It is amazing to watch such a gifted man share the gospel. When he shares with a person it is like he is talking to his best friend.

 

It really depends on how it's done. Street preaching is fine as long as God is glorified and the gospel message is presented in love.

The gospel is the love of God and we should reflect that love when preaching the gospel.

Just my thoughts...

 

Yeah, I agree. Some folks are just really good with one-on-one. There is a guy named Mike Wells, an evangelist, i think he might be pastoring now.... The man is especially effective with one-on-one.. and is thorough. He dont just aim for the head.. he knows what the gospel is.

 

God said to Abraham if He found only ten persons in Sodom were righteous He would spare it.

Amongst the crowd we do not know who will respond to the preaching of Gods word. So street preachers keep up the good work

As to Jesus and His call of the disciples, that I believe was Irresistable Grace!

He only had to speak and the wind and the waves obeyed Him.

"I have chosen you, though one is a devil"

David

 

Andrew and Peter.

The woman at the well and the people in her town.

The man healed of blindness who testifed to the Pharisees.

The Ethiopian Eunich.

Just a few I thought of. There seems to be a scriptural place for both preaching to groups and preaching to individuals.

Having grown up in the south, I remember a time when street preachers were fairly common in my home town. I don't recall them ever being very effective and rarely even drew an audience.

In Georgia a couple of years ago, a church sent some young men out to street preach... they basically stood at the entrance of a shopping center and screamed at passing cars. Also not very effective.

I think there is a mandate for this type of witnessing... but the method mentioned in the opening post seems destine for failure. Jesus, Paul, Peter, et al. preached with great power... but I personally doubt that they gave the appearance of rabid ranting and raving.

The two types of street preachers I have personally seen are: 1) The angry guy like the one mentioned in the OP. 2) The guy who talks so fast with intermittant huffs that is unintelligible to the average person.

I would love to see a preacher actually sit down in a park and teach/reason with people as Jesus and the Apostles did.

 

With the exception perhaps of Andrew and Peter, none of the folks in your list are examples of 'relationship" evangelsim. Not one of them knew the preacher before they were preached to.

I might concede the Peter and Andrew thing. They were brothers after all. But there again, the Preacher never bothered with developing some fuzzy "relationship" with them before He called them to Follow Him.

I do however, agree that the "rabid" approach isn't very effective if the fellow's words can't be understood. OTOH, folks thought John had a devil.

In HIS service;
Jim

 

dh1948--Personally, I think they are annoying at best. At worst, they turn people away.

But, you never know who hears the gospel and receives that way.

 

The woman at the well went and testified of Jesus to people she knew.

The blind man went to the temple where he was obviously known and gave a tremendous testimony...

You might want to go look at John 1 again. Andrew went and testified to Peter and led him to Christ.

Phillip spent time with the eunich and expounded the scriptures to him personally. While you can't call it a long term relationship, it was a one on one interaction.

Do you think that was because he spoke gibberish or because he dared preach repentance to the religious elite with power and authority?

 

My brother is a street preacher. I went with him a few times to check it out. He traveled all over NH. I found it interesting. You don't have to be the raving lunatic everyone thinks street preachers are. He had a crew. A guitar player and a few singers that would draw a crowd. After a few minutes he would preach on the love of Christ and how to be born again. He used a microphone and speaker hooked into his car so he didn't appear to be yelling. His ministry was and is quite successful.

The lost need to hear the good things of the bible. They tire quickly of hell fire and brimstone.

 

Now I understand the misunderstanding!

I get the impression you guys are implying/declaring that some fellow walking/driving by a street preacher who is shouting loudly will not stop and talk to him and thus will not have a chance? So are you saying that this does not and will not happen?

Or...you guys seem to imply that I am saying that one on one is not necessary?

And who on earth is espousing speaking "gibberish"? Are you Pentecostal or what?

Ok. I will look at John 1 and you go read Matthews account of it ok? Your are splitting hairs here I think. The fact is that Peter and Andrew were brothers. Obviously that was a "one on one". But my point is that the Preacher met them on the street and called them. Read it for yourself in Matthews account in chapter 4.

The woman at the well told the entire city! Now are you saying she knew everybody in that whole town? It's possible. What is more probable is that she in her excitment went running through the streets and accosted everybody she ran into and told them about Jesus.

Though many folks in the temple knew the blind man according to the account, are you saying it is not at all probable that there were people there who were complete strangers to this man? According to the account in John, the people asked the man who had healed him. So are you saying it is biblical to just sit around and wait for someone to ask you? I didn't think so. Therefore your point about this man is not germaine. We are talking about street preachers. Not temple witnesses.

And I really would like to see where I have EVER said that street preaching is the only Biblical way to proclaim Christ or to warn sinners of their impending doom. Could you provide a direct quote for me? I am getting a bit of a fuzzy memory these days and would like for you to help me out one this one. If it wasn't you who made the charge then just ignore this part, ok?

My entire and consistent point of view about this whole thing is that it pains me to no end to see folks "dissing" street preachers while they sit on their "blessed assurance". If street preachers were not needed, I don't suppose the Holy Spirit would have ever had anybody do it all throughout the history of the church. But of course we do see great fruit from it through the ages don't we? In fact, there was a time that it was pretty much the only way folks could hear the gospel preached since the "State churches" would not let those men in the pulpits.

Please. You go into your field and work, and let these other men work thier own field also. Whaddaya say?

In HIS service;
Jim

 

Thank you Soulman.
You illustrate my position quite well.
Yes, the lost need to hear of the goodness of God. They also need to hear of His judgment otherwise they have no context to grasp His goodness.
Thanks again.

In HIS service;
Jim

 

I'm not. I am saying that for every one time someone stops and listens to the guy there are hundreds who drive by with their negative impressions of fundamental evangelical Christianity reinforced.

As I posted up in the "tattoo" discussion, someone who is standing on a corner screaming like a maniac or jabbering like an cheap auctioneer should consider whether their zeal wouldn't be better placed at a homeless mission or by approaching people politely and quietly at a bus stop.

I don't think that. I actually think there are times, places, and methods for both.

Now Jim. You have interacted with me enough to know better. We disagree on a few things but I sincerely think of you as one of the good guys on the BB.

By "gibberish", I mean guys who "preach" so fast and loud that you can't make out a word they say. Often, this style of "preaching" is punctuated by a loud "huff". Back home, we even called them "huffers".

Unless you believe there is a contradiction in scripture, John 1 must clarify Matthew 4. Matthew's account must have been after the initial meeting when Christ called them to discipleship.

John 1 clearly indicates that Andrew brought Peter to Christ. I am referring to Andrew as the witness, not Jesus at that point.

You said that there were no examples of relationship evangelism in the Bible. Sorry for the diversion but I believe that I have illustrated that there are.

Whoa there cowboy. I never charged you with this. I was simply responding to your contention against relationship evangelism.

No problem. My memory isn't what it used to be either.

Please. You go into your field and work, and let these other men work thier own field also. Whaddaya say?
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No problem. Like I said, there is a place and method for this type of evangelism. But those who act unseemly aren't helping.

 

Ok. I agree that there are folks out there who would appear to be wackos. But I must stress the term "appear to be". Nevertheless, I won't "diss'em". K?
God knows their heart and I will be the last person to say they are ineffective. Besides, who really knows whether or not they have reached even one person? Just one. In my way of thinking, if they are out there foaming at the mouth and just one person comes to Christ, then who am I to question their method or delivery? You said, "But those who act unseemly aren't helping." But I say, who are we to say if they are or not?
Maybe if you see someone like that, doing that, you could stop and talk to them and find out if they have reached anybody in the time they've been out there? Maybe then you could say if they are "helping" or not. If they reached just one, then you can't say they aren't helping.

That's all I am saying.
I'm not saying that there aren't other ways to get the gospel out. K?

In HIS service;
Jim

 

I must retract my earlier statement as to street preaching being the ONLY Biblical example of reaching the lost. I spoke out of love for the street preacher instead of out of truth in the Scripture.
The truth is that street preaching isn't the only method found in Scripture. I spoke wrongly.
Sorry to all.

In HIS service;
Jim

 

As I read many of the posts I was reminded of Robert Schuller. He started by having a piano in the back of a pickup and preaching. Look where he is today. Big church, little substance.

 

GB... about Schuller.. you need to think POSITIVE !!!

 

Street preaching is still a viable way to reach people if done correctly. All that has to happen is a little seed planting. We must always remember to present Christ in the most positive light. Many have not. I believe that the style of street preaching should change a little as the yelling and fist shaking is no longer necessary. A smile on the face and a display of God's love is what attracts people. When you witness to them you can show them hell in the bible.