Hey again!
This post is more or less covering all the years we have been street preaching. I want to encourage and warn here, if you take a stand for Christ, whether street preaching, witnessing, at work, even at home, there can/will be a cost. Over the years we have become friends with many people around the US, some were pastors, other street preachers, people interested in street preaching and some christian friends we met traveling. We developed close friendships with many of them. We often heard, "We have your back.", or "We will be friends forever." I almost cringe when I hear this now. I have grown from this though.
I am talking about people who no longer fellowship with us. Each time it happens it hurts. I will honestly say it hurt most the first time, and you will have to make a choice whether you are going to continue on in the ministry the Lord has called you to, or if you are going to give up, turn bitter, and/or quit. Yes, it is hard, because sometimes you have grown close to the person who rejects or turns on you, but you have to press on.
Let me share with you something I told someone a couple of years ago after a dear friend told us she could no longer fellowship with us. She separated with us because someone we knew and occasionally street preached with allowed women to preach with him. Now, he knows our feelings on female street preachers, and never has one of them preached with us when he was there, but.... Of course it was our fault and we should have corrected him. One, he will stand or fall before Christ. He has a strong testimony as a street preacher and if she felt like what he was doing was wrong then maybe she should approach him. (Technically a male relative could do it for her as she is single.) Of course when we mentioned that she was out from under her head and out in the workplace rather than at home and we still welcomed her out with us, she immediately responded that she knew we would bring that up. Never once was that mentioned to her over the years she went out on the street with us, except as sisters in the Lord encouraging one another to do right. Anyway, back to what I told our friend. Basically I said, that yes, it does hurt and the first day I usually cry. Next is the frustration that someone can not be mature enough to live with it, or deal with the issue properly. Now, I have decided to wait and watch before becoming close, no matter what they decide to do, I am going to continue my course. I am not going to give up and quit just because someone else does. So if I seem to be quiet or not overly outgoing when meeting someone new, it is because I have learned to be a little more careful.
Of course there have been many that have joined us on the streets. They get that first glow about them and decide that this is what they also have been called to do. They start meeting us at large events, they have zeal, and then...they quit. You are too hard or maybe they tell us that we are doing it wrong, or now it is no longer for them. You know, I understand not everyone is called to be on the street, but as christians we are all called to tell others about Jesus Christ. And it would not bother me in the least if they decided not to street preach any longer, and they continued serving the Lord, but it does bother me that all of the sudden we are no longer friends. Really? You can't be friends anymore?
One time we had family invite us to their home for dinner, and yes, this has actually happened more than once. First the husband sat there and kept saying, "I can not believe you are sitting here at our dinner table." "I still can't believe your family is visiting my home." I honestly get the creeps when people do that. These are usually the ones who start preaching for awhile and then fall by the wayside. They seem to think it is glorious to go out on the street and preach. It is so exciting! Yes, I love being spit on, cursed at, having beer and other beverages thrown on me, along with items like beads, bottles and even a lawn chair one time. It is wonderful to have people punch at you, or have women expose their bodies in front of your family, have sodomites kiss in front of you... This is when they usually quit and end our friendship.
Yes it will happen, but just decide ahead of time that you are pressing on and won't quit.
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