Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a great Christmas and are looking forward to 2019. I certainly am. It’s been a very busy year for ministry (and just about everything else). I’ll sent a report on recent events soon, but I wanted to start with something a little different this time. I wanted to give some of you a better idea of what it is I do.
Most of you know I’m a missionary, and a street evangelist. But what does that mean? What does an average week look like when you do what I do? This might give you an idea:
I usually have at least three public outreaches a week. That means going out into the community, setting up in a public area, and sharing the Gospel. Sometimes that includes preaching, sometimes it includes public scripture reading, and sometimes it means setting up a message or banner or carrying a cross to help catch people’s attention and start conversations. It always means handing out tracts and spending time with people, sharing truth and answering questions.
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- Out with the cross at Stanford University
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- Using a riddle sketch to draw people in for Gospel conversations
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- Reading scripture aloud on a rainy day in San Francisco
My mid-week outreach is generally in a local downtown area, such as Oakland or San Jose, or at a local University, such as San Jose State, UC Berkeley or Stanford. My Friday night outreach location is usually a downtown area, such as Campbell, Mountain View, Palo Alto, or Redwood City, where people come for dinner, drinks, and to relax. My Saturday Outreaches have more variety, since this is often when big events happen. These can be night or day, and my most common locations are San Francisco, either at the waterfront or downtown, Santa Cruz, also waterfront or downtown, or in downtown Campbell.
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- Preaching at Courthouse Square in Redwood City
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- Giving a sketch board message in Oakland
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- Talking to a group of young folks in Palo Alto
Weekly ministry also generally includes a kids Bible club at a public school in Morgan Hill on Thursdays. I recently started working with West Hills Church on this. I also usually join our friends from Creekside Community Church Friday mornings for outreach at their local farmers market. I hope to round out future weekly ministry with another kids Bible club near my home church (we’re trying to finalize details now) and maybe add a high school lunch club or two. In addition, I have study time, prayer time, prep time (including pre-painting most of my sketches, and designing new ones), and then trying to find time to complete ministry updates and paperwork, and work on raising support. As you can imagine, it can make for a very full week!
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- Sharing a Bible story at a Morgan Hill kids club.
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- With good friends at the Farmers Market in Cupertino
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- Prepping for an evening of outreach while on the road
There’s a lot more going on too. I minister at yearly festivals and conferences, like Oktoberfest and Boogie on the Avenue in Campbell, Comic Con and Fanime Con at the San Jose Convention Center, and Christmas in the Park in San Jose, my favorite outreach of the year. I work at smaller festivals and events too, in local communities and at local churches. These are some of my favorite outreaches. And I am frequently invited to speak or teach on evangelism and the Gospel in other venues. Those events include small classes, youth groups, vacation Bible schools, meetings on military bases, church evangelism training sessions, and even preaching for Sunday morning services. What a blessing and privilege that is! Finally, the thing I probably enjoy most is personal mentoring and discipleship. A primary role of those in the office of evangelism is equipping and encouraging the body, and I love helping other gain the courage to share their faith.
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- Preaching on a Sunday morning in Lake Tahoe
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- At a Christian school festival, sharing the Gospel with local kids
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- Preaching outside Comic Con in San Jose
So why so much information? First, I want those of you support me to see where your donations are going. God is using them to reach the lost and equip the saints. So thank you! You are vital partners in this work. Second, I want to encourage others of you to partner with us. I simply can’t keep us this pace while working extra jobs to keep the bills paid. Assuming a 45 to 50-hour work week as the standard, I’m generally working 70 or 80% of my ministry hours and only receiving 30 to 40% of recommended support. So we really need your help. Every one of you can pray. Please do! It makes a huge difference. Every one of you should try your hand at public ministry. Even if it’s not your gifting, it will help equip you to reach those around you in your day-to-day life, and street ministry is much more effective with a team than alone. And some of you can give. We pray you will. This kind of work can be done on a small budget, compared to some other ministries, and we live a modest lifestyle. But we still have to pay to keep then lights on. So please consider supporting us. I promise we will try to make the most of every penny.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope it’s an encouragement to you. If there are any additional ways I can encourage you or your church, please let me know. If you want out more about how you can get involved, send me a message or give me a call, and let’s talk. You can also find out more at one of the web sites below. Thanks, and God bless!!
All for His glory,
Dan B.
My website: www.yoursoulmatters.org
The Open Air Campaigners website: www.oacusa.org
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