Street evangelism??

Confession number one: I realize this is a random blog post that does not follow my typical once a week, most likely Monday, routine.

Confession number two: I don’t care. When there is something to write, I have to write it.  It helps me process my thoughts, and, as some of you know by now, if I can’t process my thoughts, I have a tendency to explode in a mess of brain vomit and emotion.

Confession number three: I hate street evangelism, with a passion.  I have always disliked it strongly, especially when it is required.  I think it is dumb to force people to have to randomly talk to strangers about Jesus. I think it is dumb to teach techniques about how to talk about Jesus; I believe it has a tendency to take away the power and dependency of the Spirit. I think street evangelism is too focused on just presenting Jesus as efficiently as possible, and not focused on the main point, making disciples and teaching them to do everything Jesus commanded us.  Also, I realize, that as I am writing this, I could easily get a lot of backlash from people who are passionate about street evangelism.  So I want to clarify one point.  While I do not like street evangelism, I do believe God uses everything to good of those who love him.  I do believe that God’s will is for people to know Jesus, no matter how it happens.  So my opinions are merely my opinions, and they do not take away from the power of God moving in different things, like street evangelism.

And so, that leads me to tonight.  Tonight, I had to take my family group to the local Wal-Mart/Mall/Grocery/Outlet Store/Family Restaurant/Four Story mega-building called Carrefour to do street evangelism.  And, quickly, for those of you who have gotten this far and are still confused on what street evangelism is, I apologize. A quick definition is that street evangelism is where you walk up to random strangers with the sole purpose of telling them the gospel.  Okay, there you go, now we are on the same page. Back to the story.  Tonight, I had to take my six family group members, two of who are not Christians, to Carrefour and send them out to do street evangelism to the people there.  On top of not liking street evangelism, the major language barrier that is created by the simple fact that I, a born and raised Tennessee boy who speaks English, am living in Chinese-speaking Taichung, Taiwan for months, limits my ability to support my students by doing street evangelism with them. Instead, I am left to sit, watch, and try to support in other ways.

Needless to say, I was not looking forward to tonight.  I was trying to think of any possible way to escape this assignment. Maybe I could take my students out just to talk about faith.  Maybe I could get sick, and bum my students off on another teacher.  But, after talking to one of the wisest friends and mentors I know, Matt Korell, and being reminded that God works no matter what the situation is, I ended up setting up in the food court of Carrefour.  I set down, sent my students out, and began to pray, because it was the only thing I could.

There I am, in the middle of a crowded, Asian food court, unable to speak the language, drinking my Oolong Milk Tea (a Taiwanese favorite), watching my students disperse in twos, and I just began to pray because it was truly the only thing I could do. And it was in that moment that God began to rock my world.  I just began pouring my prayers onto the pages of my journal. It was like my brain was bleeding ink onto pages and pages.  I prayed for God to move in mighty ways.  I prayed that we would not leave that area unchanged.  I prayed for a double portion of the Holy Spirit to be poured out in that hour.  I prayed for confidence and the right words for the guys. I prayed that God would teach my whining heart, and so much more was prayed in the pages of that journal.

And I watched as God answered my prayers before my eyes.  I watched, as two timid students got passionate and supernaturally confident about talking to Jesus.  I watched them sit and talk with different people for long periods of time.  I watched as they gave out two bibles to people on different walks of life who wanted to know more about this Jesus guy.  I watched as a firm, non-Christian used the English school we are attending as an avenue to talk about Jesus.  I listened as God moved in their lives.  I saw their eyes light up after sharing.  I saw them embrace the challenge of being rejected, learn from it, and pursue sharing harder.  I watched God move, and I felt God move in me.  I felt him remind me the power of prayer as I set their stationed at the table just praying for over an hour for the Holy Spirit to move.  I felt him remind me that even when I don’t understand or agree with something, someone, or a technique, it doesn’t mean that he cannot use it for his glory.  I felt him remind me that he has a heart and love for the people of Taiwan, just as he has a heart for the people of England, Africa, America, Nashville, Ethos, Midnight Worship, Vanderbilt, and so on. I felt him remind me in the lyrics of a song:

“Forever change me/ Just one glimpse, one taste of your love/ And I stare straight into the eyes/ To burn with love for me/ The most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen/
And everything inside of me just want to give/ All I, all my love for you my beautiful King/ Forever, forever you change me”

the beauty, majesty, wonder, power, glory, love, passion, grace, and so much more that is my God and my King, and I just wept.  I wept proudly in the middle of an Asian food court in Taiwan, because I have seen the most beautiful eyes.  I have seen the eyes of Jesus. I have fallen in love with him, felt him change me, and feel that desire to give everything inside of me to my beautiful King. And in the moment, his glory and love was being declared fully.

After night, this I know, God is moving.  He is moving here in Taiwan; He is moving in America; He is moving in this world.  And we just have to trust that above all else, his will, his perfect, pleasing, and good will, will be done, and Jesus will be declared above all else. When this happens, we will see this come to true:

“It shall come to pass in the latter days
    that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,”

Isaiah 2:2

And I personally cannot wait for that day to happen.