Preaching to the Choir

Tonight, the whole group showed up to the Burbank Town Center. Until we get Northridge resolved, this looks like our new fishing spot. It is basically an outdoor mall with plenty of public sidewalk space and the fields are full of people coming and going to shops, restaurants and theaters.

Tony was the bold one tonight and stood up on a bench and did some open air preaching. Except for one lady that was really agitated (and acting as if she was demon possessed) doing calisthenics screaming out random things, the rest of the crowd was absolutely enraptured. I saw nobody heckling, and after Tony stopped, the crowd actually rushed him to shake his hand. I've never seen open air go like that. Usually the crowds do not want to hear the gospel proclaimed.

I'd say there were at least thirty of us all totalled, and we probably needed more considering there were over one hundred people standing around listening waiting to ask questions. As soon as he finished, we were overwhelmed with people to talk with. Many people were Christians, but had never imagined themselves standing up and sharing the gospel with strangers. We loaded them up with copies of "Hell's Best Kept Secret" books and CDs. Everywhere I looked there were people either sharing or listening to a presentation of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

After a while, the crowds thinned out and we spread out to find people on benches and standing around. Many of the people we approached had already spoken with someone, but they were happy to talk with us. Many people actually asked us to come back next Friday. I didn't get up to preach open air, but I have the feeling that I will be doing that very soon. In two weeks, the Evangelism Boot Camp is coming up and I should be more prepared to preach after that. I am going to get a video copy of Tony preaching to put up here for everyone to see, but till I get that figured out, the podcast for this week will be the second part of Tony's sermon from a couple weeks ago.