I Recall Central Park In Fall.

WERT - Saturday 8/26

WERT Weather Report - Cloudy with blue skies peeking at times. Warm temperatures.
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As we got off the bus we headed to the subway. We were planning on heading over to Central Park via the subway. We connected again as a group and made sure we didn't lose anyone from the bus to the subway. We all were kind of dazed and wide-eyed walking through the station. We each purchased a Metrocard that would give us our ride now and one return trip.

While on line Sean was able to speak for about five minutes with a man who was from Mozambique. Sean, having gone there a few years ago was able to connect with him well and eventually exchange emails for further communication. It is amazing how God puts you in the right place with someone who you will be able to connect with.

John had worked in the city a few years ago and he was our default guide to which subway we needed. As I noted in a previous post, public transportation is a great place to talk to people (mainly because there are people there). In the 10 mins we were either waiting for the train or traveling I was able to start conversations with two people very easily. "Is this the train that will take me to Central Park." "How long have you lived in NYC", etc. As Sean has noted before we must become masters at starting conversations. Using your surroundings and current circumstances usually work well for me.

The seven of us got off the subway and walked up to the street. We were in the southern corner of the park I believe near Columbus Circle (the large statue of Christopher Columbus gives that away). Nathan and I thought that perhaps this area would be a good place to do some open air preaching if we ended up doing that. Platform to stand on, plenty of people, etc. We ended up gathering together at another statute (all gold - a woman and three horses) and decided this would be the place we would meet @ 2:30pm that afternoon after we were done witnessing (It was just after 10:30am now).

We gathered in a circle and began to pray. I believe Sean read some verses and I prayed. Nathan prayed as well. My cell phone rang during prayer. It was my brother Joe calling so I opened the phone and pointed it towards Sean and Nathan. After the prayer I spoke to Joe for a min about where he was in relation to where he was. Joe was the lone area contact meeting up with us.

We broke up into smaller groups. Chad and Jaired went off together, Nathan and Sal as well. That left John, Sean and I together. Knowing that would be too much for people to handle, we would have to break that group up when Joe came ;-). Sean and John had the camera and were going to start interviewing people. I split from them and spotted someone to talk to beside the roadway in the park. No cars were on the road, only hundreds of people jogging.

I approached a young man (maybe early 20's) standing by the crosswalk and started a conversation. I told him we were in the park today trying to get people's thoughts on what happens when they die. He smiled when I asked him that and our conversation began.

Jorge is the assistant cross country coach for John Jay College in NYC. I knew the John Jay was famous for criminal justice and I asked him if that was his major. I was able to take him through the law of God and ask him how he stood in light of God's standards. Initially he said that he was a "good person" but after the questions he admitted that in fact (after he had broken each of the commands I presented) he was not a good person in God's eyes. He was very honest.

Jorge then shared with me some personal things weighing on his mind. Though he moved away from the focus being on him as he spoke, it was such a big deal to him that he had to talk with someone about how he was hurting.

Get this -
Jorge's girlfriend had just cheated on him.

With a married man.

While she was on a missionary trip.

And that Jorge had raised all the money for her to be able to go.

Wow.

I expressed my sadness to hear of something like this and I asked him how he felt about what had happened. He said he felt sad and angry. How could someone do this to him after all he had done for her?! He was noticeably shaken. He continued to talk about what had happen for a while. I understood his feelings but I did not want to get side tracked from the bigger issue at hand - his standing with God.

He had already admitted that if God judged him based on His standards, he would be guilty and his destination would be the lake of fire. He said that this did concern him. He seemed serious about this too. He said he was raised with a "Christian" background but he had not been following it at all now.

So I asked him again how he felt.

- "Sad,...angry"
- "Especially because of all that you had done for her."
- "Yes! Exactly"
- "Jorge....that is exactly how God feels about you. He has done so much for you, to give you life and breath and you have committed adultery against him. Idolatry with the things of the world, even when you know you shouldn't have.
- ".........."

Jorge was very convicted after that. He even physically expressed contrition. And then he said the following:

"So what are you saying I should do?"

Wow! I didn't even know what to say - nobody had ever said that before...lol. It reminded me of Acts 2 after the people were pricked in their hearts by Peter's words - "what shall we do to be saved?"

I told him that he needed to repent. I told him that he needed to ask God to forgive him and make Jesus the Lord of his life by following His words. I expressed to him that God was willing to accept Jesus' payment for his sins instead if he would do this.

Then I asked him if he wanted to pray and he said said yes. He bowed his head and prayed silently. When he was done, he looked up and shook his head. Then he asked me "do I need to forgive my ex-girl friend?" I told him that Jesus said that unless we forgive others, we ourselves will not be forgiven. I told him that it doesn't make what she did right, but you need to forgive even still. He said he would. I asked him if he had a Bible and he said yes. I told him to read Matthew 5,6,7 as that gives a good overview of what Jesus wants him to do.

I will probably never see Jorge again. But you know what, I am confident that the LORD can work in his life still. I believe that if Jorge reads the Bible, God is big enough to show him the truth. I believe that God is powerful enough to continue to work with Jorge beyond our conversation. He isn't coming to my church or my fellowship. But he is going to read the Bible and ask God to help him understand it. I have faith in a God that big, that powerful.

If you only have a few moments with someone, do you know what you will say to them to get them thinking, to pierce their hearts, to lead them to repent because they are currently enemies of God? We need to know that and then we need to pray for the people we speak to. Pray that God can give the increase. Pray that God can overcome our frailties of speech and unclear words.

Jorge left and I gave him some more info, including my contact information. I turned and prayed for him and praised God for helping me as I spoke. Wow. That was awesome.

As I turned and looked for someone else to talk to I saw John and Sean in a great conversation with some runners. Then I looked to my left and I saw Joe walking up towards us. I was so excited. Joe traveled from his apartment in Long Island to meet up with us and preach the gospel together. Nothing that is going to encourage you like that. We greeted each other and then looked to head off and preach together.

The park was full of people (the harvest is plenteous).
We were on our way...(the laborers are few)

Pray the Lord of harvest that He would send more laborers.

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WERT Weather Report - Into the park, the day is getting nicer and nicer.

The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round.

WERT - Saturday Morning 8/26

WERT Weather Report - Rain overnight but now "misting" in Old Tappan, NJ. Overcast
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We woke up Saturday morning around 7:00am. The groggy rush began to get a shower, get ready and head down for breakfast (Susie had prepared a delicious frittata-like breakfast). Our schedule had us leaving the house around 8:30 or so to make it to the bus to NYC on time. We had some quick fellowship with Hugh and Susie around the breakfast table and packed up the van. As we got into the van, Hugh asked me if I could spare some Kingdom tracts, he was really excited in light of what we were about to do. It was great to see how sharing with him what we had seen Friday night and what we were planning for today encouraged him.

This was it. We all had a sense of excitement mixed with tiredness as we drove to the Baker's Wife Bakery parking lot. Nathan prayed on the way to the bus stop. He was very passionate, as usual. This is where we would leave the van for the weekend as we shifted to public transportation to make the rest of our trip. The exciting thing about taking the public transportation was that we were intending to preach the gospel each time we traveled. There was no down time on this trip. After all, we were not on vacation, we were working.

We walked through a back alleyway and waited only a few mins in front of a storefront. There was a barber shop across the street that was packed. I mentioned to Nathan that I though this was odd for an early Saturday morning. I guess it was just odd for me being that I am not usually up this early on Saturdays. A few people waited with us for the bus and confirmed we were in the right spot. As the bus approached Hugh said goodbye and the seven of us paid our $6.75 and boarded the bus.

Initially it was tough on the bus leaving Tappan. There seemed to be more of us then "them" on the bus and it felt awkward at first. Sean, John, and Sal sat up front. Chad and I chose the middle. Nathan and Jaired went to the back. It was really quiet at first. There were a few people on the bus - no more than 10 - and most of them were either sleeping or sitting in an unapproachable way.

For the first few mins of the ride (the ride into NYC was going to be a little over an hour) I sat silent. I remember thinking that there might not be anyone for me to talk to, so at least I had the desire to speak, that was good. Actually Victor, no, that was an excuse. But knowing the trip was going to take a while, I didn't mind letting people wake up a bit and get used to the sun in their eyes.

Chad was in a seat near me so we started talking to each other a bit. At first I felt like I wasn't "supposed" to talk to him but we went back and forth for a few mins with him pretending to witness to me. We laughed a bit but then we got serious as more and more people started getting on the bus.

A great opening line was to ask someone "excuse me, do you know how long it takes to get to NYC? This is my first time on this bus." I think it is important to think about your surroundings/situation and use them as openers. The first person I spoke to didn't speak English well. She was from Moldova, a place I was unfamiliar with even as a History major (ha ha). I was able to understand from her that Moldova is near Romania and Ukraine.

I was able to continue the conversation by asking her next something like "do you take this bus a lot?

- Yes.
- Do you go into the city for work?
- Yes I do.
- Oh, what do you do?
- I am a secretary.
- Oh that's neat. How long have you lived in the US?
- 5 years.
- Oh wow, that's great. Do you like it here?
- Yes, the jobs are better here for sure.
- Do you miss being back home?
- Well yes, I miss my family and friends the most.
- I bet. Is it hard to live there now?
- Yes, many challenges.
- I am sorry I don't know more about your country. Is Moldova a religious county?

(BOOM - now you are in. You turned from the natural to the spiritual. The most important thing to remember is to keep the conversation going and to be looking for a way to shift it.)

It was very hard to communicate with her and we were not able to continue much more because of the language issue but I thought it might be good to give her a Kingdom tract and I asked her to take the time to read it.

Meanwhile, the bus was filling up and as a result the other 6 were in conversation. Chad had moved to the back of the bus and was in a very in depth conversation. Jaired had started to talk to an Indian man behind him but the man didn't want to talk anymore once Jaired moved into religion. I tried to talk to the guy also hoping the strike the conversation again to get Jaired back into something with him but he refused.

There was a business man now sitting to my left reading a newspaper. He had previously asked if the bag on my chair (I had gotten up to talk to the Indian fellow) was saving a seat or not. Now back in my seat (after much mental wrestling) I turned to him and asked if he took this bus a lot. He said "yes, why" and I said well, I thought that you might sit here each morning and I had taken your seat, sorry about that. He said that wasn't the case and then went back to reading his paper.

A min or two passed and my brother Chad out of nowhere gives on of his famous one-liners (although it is so famous I don't even remember what it was) and get the business man talking. The conversation went fairly well although the man was quite stubborn about calling someone who tells lies a liar. He believed in God but didn't think Christianity was the truth. He thought there might be something after this life, but doubtful. We arrived to the Port authority and Chad asked if he would read the tract he wrote about the Bible being true and reliable. He said he would. We didn't get to actually preach the gospel to him, but we definitely challenged him to consider the Bible as true. The bus ride was over. The time had passed very quickly. I am pretty sure that each of us got to talk to someone which was encouraging to me. Everyone wanted to follow through with our mission.

We got off the bus and were now in New York City. Our wallets moved to our front pockets. The sun was now up fully. So were we. And our day was really just beginning.

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WERT Weather Report - Out of the bus and into the open air of NYC - sunny with clouds. No rain.