BlackCalvinist
Puritan Board Senior
....in downtown Baltimore City.
My account (as posted on another board):
'We' being Me, Yolanda, Jason and Jolene.
Jason and Yolanda came strapped with tracts and bibles and started before I got there (I ran late). They knew EXACTLY the right corner to hit in the downtown area (Eutaw and Saratoga Street in the Lexington Market area).
I got there.....they were already at work. On my way down, I walked 3-4 blocks with the mailman (his name was tony) who attended a UMC church. It was a good short convo and I gave him a tract.
At the corner, it was CRAZY. We met 'Mac' - a 15-year old dude that kinda reminds me of a cross between Young Josh and B-Doe in his mannerism and look.... very intelligent, pretty articulate.
This was his corner. I noticed that about 6-7 of the same dudes kept 'circling' the area. And they were all Nextel-ing each other about the location of the police and moved when appropriate. Mac's girl had a purse carrying most of his merchandise (which included crack, heroine and weed among other things).
He got to chop it up with Yolanda for a minute while me and J were there. He was actually very respectful and seemed to genuinely appreciate the fact that we were there and not simply beating up on him for what he was doing. He also got to see us interact with several other people, as we were on the corner for almost 2 hours.
People that stood out to me a bit:
Robert - 50+ guy, tall, seemed a little 'slow'. I shared the law with him, and once we got to the end.... a tear rolled down his face I jumped to the gospel as the solution to the problem the law presented real quick.
Nicoleness & her son (I think his name was Jason...) - Mom claims to be a Christian, but hasn't been to church in a while. Son goes to Bethel AME, but when was asked how to become a Christian, gave a works-defined salvation plan. Not a big surprise to me. Yolanda spent time with her and the son (I was a part of the convo a little).
Two young girls, 16 and 17 (forgot their names): who also attended churches, but thought that it was about 'working on it' instead of repentance and faith.
Gilbert - who works for Lexington Market. Jolene spent time with him for a few and me and J had to walk about 50 yards down the street to find both of them talking. He was interesting because he talked about not wanting thinking it was right to make moral judgments *LOL* but was still a nice guy.
There were plenty of other people we all talked to (I'll let Jason and Yolanda and Jolene tell their stories).
We'll be back down there in a few weeks. The tract I wrote up (and there'll be more on the way shortly) have a short listing of solid churches in the immediate Baltimore area with 1 in Towson included. The closest one to the area that was sound that I pointed folk to is Redeemed's church - Believers Chapel (it's also the first one listed on the tract).
Lord willing, I'll have PDF versions of this tract available on my site soon for folk to DL and use as needed, provided you're going to actually TEACH folks and not simply ENTERTAIN them when they come to your church.
I'm REAL serious about that. J, Yolanda and Jolene will tell you - we met (literally) DOZENS of people who claimed to be Christians but couldn't communicate the content of the gospel correctly. And it's not a matter of 'well, they just said it differently'. I'm talkin' about people sayin' that you basically be a good person, change your behavior and say forgive me God whenever you do something wrong. That's WORKS. No mention of the cross, no mention of the Savior - nuffin'.
Anyway, enough of that before I start ranting.
Pray for the people mentioned in this post. Pray for the city. My heart BROKE while I was there. I grew up in B-more, used to hang on those very corners.... and it ain't like it used to be. The heroin and crack slingin' used to be restricted to a few other places....now it's in broad daylight.
This is going to be a busy summer for me and a few more of us in the area.
I was encouraged this morning, as I visited Hope Bible Church in Columbia, MD. Hope actually will be starting up a similar evangelism program shortly and they're going to be going to the local fair and a mall or two, I think.
So keep them in prayer, too.
I have a lot more to say, but this will suffice for now.
My account (as posted on another board):
'We' being Me, Yolanda, Jason and Jolene.
Jason and Yolanda came strapped with tracts and bibles and started before I got there (I ran late). They knew EXACTLY the right corner to hit in the downtown area (Eutaw and Saratoga Street in the Lexington Market area).
I got there.....they were already at work. On my way down, I walked 3-4 blocks with the mailman (his name was tony) who attended a UMC church. It was a good short convo and I gave him a tract.
At the corner, it was CRAZY. We met 'Mac' - a 15-year old dude that kinda reminds me of a cross between Young Josh and B-Doe in his mannerism and look.... very intelligent, pretty articulate.
This was his corner. I noticed that about 6-7 of the same dudes kept 'circling' the area. And they were all Nextel-ing each other about the location of the police and moved when appropriate. Mac's girl had a purse carrying most of his merchandise (which included crack, heroine and weed among other things).
He got to chop it up with Yolanda for a minute while me and J were there. He was actually very respectful and seemed to genuinely appreciate the fact that we were there and not simply beating up on him for what he was doing. He also got to see us interact with several other people, as we were on the corner for almost 2 hours.
People that stood out to me a bit:
Robert - 50+ guy, tall, seemed a little 'slow'. I shared the law with him, and once we got to the end.... a tear rolled down his face I jumped to the gospel as the solution to the problem the law presented real quick.
Nicoleness & her son (I think his name was Jason...) - Mom claims to be a Christian, but hasn't been to church in a while. Son goes to Bethel AME, but when was asked how to become a Christian, gave a works-defined salvation plan. Not a big surprise to me. Yolanda spent time with her and the son (I was a part of the convo a little).
Two young girls, 16 and 17 (forgot their names): who also attended churches, but thought that it was about 'working on it' instead of repentance and faith.
Gilbert - who works for Lexington Market. Jolene spent time with him for a few and me and J had to walk about 50 yards down the street to find both of them talking. He was interesting because he talked about not wanting thinking it was right to make moral judgments *LOL* but was still a nice guy.
There were plenty of other people we all talked to (I'll let Jason and Yolanda and Jolene tell their stories).
We'll be back down there in a few weeks. The tract I wrote up (and there'll be more on the way shortly) have a short listing of solid churches in the immediate Baltimore area with 1 in Towson included. The closest one to the area that was sound that I pointed folk to is Redeemed's church - Believers Chapel (it's also the first one listed on the tract).
Lord willing, I'll have PDF versions of this tract available on my site soon for folk to DL and use as needed, provided you're going to actually TEACH folks and not simply ENTERTAIN them when they come to your church.
I'm REAL serious about that. J, Yolanda and Jolene will tell you - we met (literally) DOZENS of people who claimed to be Christians but couldn't communicate the content of the gospel correctly. And it's not a matter of 'well, they just said it differently'. I'm talkin' about people sayin' that you basically be a good person, change your behavior and say forgive me God whenever you do something wrong. That's WORKS. No mention of the cross, no mention of the Savior - nuffin'.
Anyway, enough of that before I start ranting.
Pray for the people mentioned in this post. Pray for the city. My heart BROKE while I was there. I grew up in B-more, used to hang on those very corners.... and it ain't like it used to be. The heroin and crack slingin' used to be restricted to a few other places....now it's in broad daylight.
This is going to be a busy summer for me and a few more of us in the area.
I was encouraged this morning, as I visited Hope Bible Church in Columbia, MD. Hope actually will be starting up a similar evangelism program shortly and they're going to be going to the local fair and a mall or two, I think.
So keep them in prayer, too.
I have a lot more to say, but this will suffice for now.
