Stanley: I've had enough of this; I'm ready for a change!

Stanley says he came home from Vietnam a different man from the one who left a few short months earlier. The world in which he found himself was complicated and hard and he had neither the skills nor the strength to cope. So he turned to drugs and alcohol. Obviously, that didn’t solve any problems but only created some new ones. Stanley was enslaved for 30 years and the forces driving him were so strong that he began to do things he would never have done in order to try to satiate his cravings. Just over two years ago, he wound up in prison, having lost his job, his home, his family, and worst of all, his hope.

Stanley had already heard about the Bible meetings in the park in central Durham and had decided that he would come tomorrow and "check it out." God was working a little ahead of his schedule and brought us face-to-face at five-points about 5:30 today. He shared his story with me and said, "I need to find some way out of the life I’m living. I’ve had enough of this and I’m ready for a change."

I assured Stanley that God alone has the power to bring about the change he is looking for. And that change doesn’t start on the outside, but on the inside. He listened intently to the good news that God has a plan and purpose for his life and was eager to have me pray for him. I thought of the Psalm (34:18) that says, "The Lord is near unto them that are of a broken heart; and saves those of a contrite spirit." The change in Stanley’s countenance spoke volumes. He called on the Lord and God heard him.

Please keep Stanley in your prayers. He has a bucket and window-washing equipment and goes from store to store offering his services; pray that God will bless his enterprise. He would like to get a place to live before cold weather sets in; I assured him that we would pray with him about this need. Most of all, pray that Stanley will grow in his walk with God and fulfill God’s dream for his life.

Wallace: He explained the gospel to me

Typically, the numbers of people on the streets on Fridays are a little sparse. Today is an exception (I’m not sure why) and I have had several excellent encounters already this morning. One such encounter was with Wallace.

Wallace is a tall, rather stately man who appears to be about 60. I have seen him around for the past few weeks and have waited for the opportunity to sit down with him. Today, the time was right and I sensed that God had arranged the moment. As I engaged in conversation with Wallace, I found him to be a thoughtful and quite articulate individual. The door was already wide open because Wallace was very familiar with what we’re up to on the streets of Durham and has attended some of the Bible meetings in the park. One of his first statements was, "I know I need to quit this drinking and doing drugs. I know I need to change my ways."

I said to him, "Wallace, the drinking and drugs are not your problem and you can’t change your ways." That statement seemed to pique his interest and he asked me what I thought his problem was and who I didn’t think he could change. I proceeded to tell him, "Your problem is the same as mine and every other human being: we have a sinful nature–a bent toward doing what is wrong–and there is nothing we can do to change that. We can exercise some discipline and self-control and do better for a while, but the problem is still there. We are sinners by nature as well as by practice and the only way that is ever going to change is for us to turn our lives over fully to Christ and allow him to change us."

Wallace said emphatically, "I know that."

I said, "How do you know that?" and he began quoting to me John 3:16-17. I said, "What do you think that means?" And Wallace proceeded to give me a very cogent presentation of the gospel. He explained to me how that salvation only comes to us through faith in Christ and his shed blood. He told me that believing on Christ frees of from condemnation and brings us eternal life. He had a clear grasp of what it means to be saved.

"Then, what’s holding you back, Wallace?" I asked him, "You see the light, now walk in it."

And Wallace said to me, "I spent over twenty years in prison. I was sentence to fifty years for murder; I went in with I was 34 and came out when I was 55. I cry everyday over my wasted life. And I drink every day. I smoke crack–just smoked it last night. I can’t get off the hook with the dealers; they want to keep me in debt to them; they get just about all the money I get my hands on. And I shoot up on heroin" He pulled up his sleeve and pointed to the needle marks on his arm. "How can I come to God the way I am?"

I said, "Wallace, that’s the only way we can come to God–just as we are. You will never be able to change yourself or ready yourself for the family of Christ. You have to come to him just as you are and let him change you from the inside out."

I prayed with Wallace and he prayed. He asked God to give him power to break with his past and start a new life. He prayed that God would allow him time to make up for some of the bad things he had done and to be a help and blessing to somebody else. He promised to meet with me regularly and give himself to growing in his faith. He invited me to his apartment and I told him I would come and pray with him there.

God has placed great potential in this man. I can see him walking the streets of this city sharing the gospel and witnessing to its power in his own life.

Wallace asks that you pray for him as he seeks to develop a strong walk with Christ.

This is shaping up to be a fruitful day!

Ernest and Sharon: Ready for God's exciting plan!

When you walk down the street with eyes peeled for someone who is hurting and in need of God’s loving touch, it is amazing how clearly they stand out. This morning, as I was waiting for the "walk" light at the intersection (I’m getting better about that), I spotted a young man walking up the adjacent street. My attention was so strongly drawn to him that I waited for him to reach the corner on the other side. I approached him, introduced myself to him, and asked how his day was going. I got the standard "pretty good" but I knew better. I said, "No, you can tell me. How’s it going?"

Then I got a more honest, "Not worth a ****."

"That’s more like it," I said. "Do you have a minute to talk."

Ernest said, "Of course I do." and we took our seat on a nearby bench as he began to lay out the story of his life. He is from Lumberton, NC, where he grew in a less-than-perfect home. He injured his back in a basketball mishap when he was a teenager and has lived with chronic pain since that day. Ernest became addicted to alcohol and various other substances years ago and found himself wandering across the country looking for–he doesn’t know what.

I asked Ernest if he had ever called upon the Lord for help. He assured me that he had, but it didn’t seem that God had done much to turn the tide in his life. "I guess this is just my life," Ernest told me, "maybe things are just the way they’re supposed to be." I asked where he lived and he told me he and his wife are living in "tent city" which is a place in the woods near "the Bridge" a few blocks away. His wife, Sharon, is an alcoholic as well, Ernest told me, and just can’t seem to go a day without drinking.

"God can help you, Ernest!" I assured him. "Your problems–the whole pile of them–is no problem to God. He made the universe and everything in it. He made you. He made Sharon. And he made you both for an incredibly wonderful purpose."

"That’s what the preacher-man in Texas told us," Earnest said, "but I don’t have any idea what that might be. What could I ever do that would make any difference?"

"Would you like to live a life that counts? Would you like to know that your being on this earth is having a good impact day after day?"

"Well, of course I would!" Ernest said this as though it had never dawned upon him that there was great value and great potentiality in his life. "Of course I would. I would love to be able to help somebody. If I could just help my wife overcome her alcohol addiction, I would be a happy man. We have our problems, but I love that woman," Ernest continued. "I don’t believe in divorce. I don’t care how bad things get, I would never leave her. My mother was married three times and my fathert two times. It had an awful effect on all us kids and I’m never going to give up on this marriage."

I said, "Earnest, you have to fall in love with Jesus so strongly that you would feel the same way about him–that no matter what happens, you are going to walk with Jesus for the rest of our life. And, if you’ll do that, there is nothing you can go through that he will not help you with." Then I asked him, "Are you willing to do that?"

And he answered, "Absolutely!" I knew the Holy Spirit was at work and right there on the bench on the sidewalk of Main Street, Ernest asked Jesus to take charge of his life.

He had told me earlier that the reason he was walking the street was to try and find something for his wife to eat. He was going to a soup kitchen and try to talk them into allowing him to take a plate to his wife. He said if he had to, he would get the plate as though it was for himself, then he would slip out and take it to her.
I said, "Ernest, would you like for me to go home with you. I’ll buy lunch."

He said, "Would you do that?"

"I would be honored to do that," I assured him. So we walked a few blocks to my car, drove to McDonald’s for a bag of burgers and headed for tent city. I have been wanting to visit this place, but never had an entree before. Now, Ernest was ushering me into a veritable jungle. It reminded me of places I have visited in Africa or India.

I asked Ernest to go ahead of me and announce that I was coming so I didn’t startle anybody. "Honey, we’re got company," he called out, and I followed him to their little hideaway. There I met Sharon, a gentle, soft-spoken woman, who immediately began to apologize for her appearance, her condition, and the surroundings.

"I’m happy to be here, Sharon. Not to worry, you look fine and besides that I’m here because God sent me here with good news for you." She told me of her life–much of which I had already heard from Ernest–and added that she had been beaten, robbed, and even raped in these woods. "It’s a tough world out here," she said, "so what’s the good news?"

I opened by cell phone Bible to Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

"How could any of that ever happen in my life," Sharon asked.

"It’s in the very next verse and the following verses–"In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you seek for me with all your heart, you will find me. I will be found by you," says the Lord. "I will end your captivity and restore what you have lost." By this time, Sharon is beginning to cry. Earnest reached over and put his arm around her and I began to pray for both of them. I asked God to heal and restore them. I prayed that he would guide them and show them his wonderful plan for their lives. I prayed for the day that they would find themselves in His perfect will–being richly blessed and blessing everyone who came into their lives. What a meeting with God right there in "tent city" in the middle of the woods.

Sharon asked to borrow my cell phone to call her daughter and tell here what was happening. She called–no answer–so she left a voice mail. Half-hour later, her daughter called me to ask, "Is this for real?" I assured it that it was.

I believe God has begun a work today in Earnest and Sharon’s life. I promised them that many of my friends would be praying daily for them. Please don’t forget.

Tony: I’m going to keep trusting in God.

I took a walk with Tony today. He assured me that he is going to keep trusting God and walking with him. Don't forget to keep Tony in your prayers.

Tony: He never felt like he had a purpose!

We started the day recently (as we often do recently) on the top level of a parking deck in the center of Durham. It is always empty this early in the world and we can walk around the perimeters, look down on the streets of the city, and pray for God’s work in the lives of those who will walk those streets. The presence of God was particularly evident as Ron, Milton, and I prayed to be filled with the Holy Spirit for this day of ministry.

I have to admit that I am very outcome-oriented. I like to "close the deal" and see people make an overt commitment to follow Christ. Today, though, was more about sowing the seed in faith and trusting God to do his own work (I suppose He can handle that). We had the opportunity to share the gospel with a number of people and, near the end of the day, God allowed us to see one of those manifestations of grace that was just dramatic.

Milton and I were sharing with some men along Queen Street between Main and Liberty as my attention was being drawn to a man lying on the ground under a tree, apparently sleeping. It’s not my habit to disturb a man while he is sleeping, but I couldn’t ignore the drawing I felt toward this man. I asked the men we were talking with if they knew him. No one did. I asked if they had ever talked with him. They never had. In fact, they weren’t sure he could even talk. One man said, "He’s just crazy. You’d better leave him alone."

I couldn’t help but think, "What would Jesus do? Would he leave him alone? Or would he love him and reach out to him?" We know the answer to that. So I walked over to the man and he immediately opened his eyes. When I saw me standing close to him, he was struck with fear and said, "What is it? What did I do? What are you doing to do?"

I answered him, "You didn’t do anything and all I want to do is be your friend. Is there anything I can do for you?"

And again he asked, "What’s wrong? What have I done?" Milton came alongside me and assured him, "We are your friends. We want to help you if we can." We asked him his name and told him ours. He continued to look at us with fear and uncertainty.

Still lying on the ground in the same position in which we found him, Tony said to us, "Why are you doing this? And we assured him that it was simply because God had send us to his side to be his friends. This was the first time a faint smile appeared on his face as he said, "Really?"

"So tell us what we can do for you." He asked if I had a car. I told him I did and he said, "Would you take me to the store?" What could I say but "yes"? So we took Tony for a ride to the store. It was a ride Tony will never forget because God allowed us to be His mouthpiece to pour His love into Tony’s life. He listened intently as we told him how God had loved him from the moment of his conception in his mother’s body, that God had never once taken his eyes off him, and had been longing for relationship with him.

As I tried to tell Tony of the immeasurable worth he had to God and how much God had focused His love on him, Tony shook his head in disbelief. Tony told us how his parents had both died with he was a small child and he was raised by aunts and grandparents. "I have never felt like I had a purpose in life," he said, "I don’t even know why I am alive. I have been close to death several times, but I always come back."

"Who do think is bringing you back, Tony? Who is it who is determined to keep you alive?"

Tony said, "I guess it’s God."

"It IS God, Tony. God wants you alive so you can fulfill the wonderful purpose He has ordained for your life." The presence of the Holy Spirit was so powerful, it was almost overwhelming. I said, "Tony, will you give your life over fully to Christ today?"

"I don’t know," he said, "I would like to, but I don’t feel it. I don’t know if I can do it." I assured him that he didn’t have to have a feeling; all he had to have was a willingness to respond to the call of God.

"This is your day, Tony," I said, "God has set this moment up for you to come to him." And we began to pray over Tony. We took him by the hand, prayed for God to remove the scales from his eyes, illuminate his understanding, and show him His incredible love. As we continued to pray, Tony began to nod in agreement. Then he began to express verbal agreement. I led him in a prayer of repentance and commitment. Tony’s voice became stronger and stronger as he prayed along with me and then he punctuated the prayer with a hearty "Amen!"

We drove Tony back to the place we first encountered him. He hugged us, thanked us profusely, and promised us that he was going to walk with the Lord. And we promised Tony that we would pray for him, have our friends to pray for him, and we would follow up with him and help strengthen in his walk with the Lord. I’ll check on him tomorrow and he has firmly promised to join us in Bible study next week.

I love the wonderful thing God is doing!

Felix sharing Christ

So I’m on the streets of Durham this morning sharing Christ with as many people as I can and I run into a guy who is doing the same thing. I know this guy and so do some of you. In fact, some of you have prayed for Felix to grow in his faith and walk with God.

When I met Felix a few weeks ago, he was very drunk and not on his best behavior. I sat and shared with him, cried with him, and prayed with him and knew that God has touched his life. I have followed up with numerous meetings with Felix and the growth I am seeing in his spiritual life is amazing. God is already beginning to use him to spread the good news on the streets.

This morning, Felix asked if he could introduce me to some of his friends. I spent about an hour with him, meeting and sharing with more than half a dozen men and women who are ripe and ready for the gospel. This is almost too easy!

"So," I asked Felix, "What are you telling your friends about what God is doing in your life?" He says it better than I can . . .

Otis: He will remember this day forever!

One of the men I talked with today was Otis, a thin, soft-spoken man in his sixties. At first, we just talk in generalities–the beautiful day we were having, how hot the summer had been–and then I asked Otis, “How are you doing?” to which he replied, “I’m doing okay.”

His answer was less than convincing and I asked him, “Are you trusting Christ with the things you face from day to day?” And he said, “Yeah . . . there’s nobody else we can trust.”

I said, “Where do you life, Otis?” He answered, “I live here on the street.” And it was then that he broke into tears. “I’m from Rocky Mount. I could go home–they said I could come home–but I have this drug problem.” Otis went on to tell me of a twenty-year cocaine addiction that has cost him everything. He has struggled with it day after day, undergone treatments, participated in programs, but he hasn’t been able to break free.

I said to him, “Otis, you’re never going to be able to overcome the power of this addiction by yourself. We all have sin and bondage in our lives and apart from the power of God we will never be free. It’s not just a matter of asking God to help us be strong enough to overcome; we have to allow him to come into our lives and take complete control. Then, it’s not us but it’s Christ living and overcoming in us.”

Otis was listening to every word. “He has been wanting to do this for you since the day the addiction started. In fact, he has wanted to be the Lord of your life since before you were born. He picked you out when you were still inside your mother. He loved you and had a great purpose for your life, and it’s not to late for him to do that.

Otis was still crying as he said, “I’ve always wanted to help other people. I wish I could be a drug counselor and help other people get off drugs.” And I said, “You can, Otis! God can do such a wonderful thing in your life that you can help many people be free. There is a greater purpose in God for your life than you can possibly imagine.”

I was so conscious of God’s power right there on the street. By this time, I was crying with Otis. I began to pray, to rebuke the devil’s power, and to call the healing, delivering power of Christ into this man’s life. He agreed with me in prayer and promised me that he was going to call home and tell his family what had happened, then he was going to go home and serve the Lord.

Simple as that? Of course not. Satan doesn’t give up that easily. I promised Otis that I would pray for him and ask my friends to do the same. I gave him my cell phone number and he promised to call me. I will follow up with him to help him make connections with people who can encourage and strengthen him in his faith.

As we left, Otis said, "I'm going to remember this day--September 12--I'm going to remember this day forever as the day my life was changed." I believe he will! Put Otis on your prayer list.