TruthQuest Journals:

David
PACIFIC BEACH, Calif. (BP)--Working with the surfing ministry today, God showed me that He can use more than a hollerin’ Southern preacher to reach people for Him. The members of the Coastland Community Church demonstrated such a servant’s spirit today during an outreach known as Beach Reach. They simply talked to people, getting to know them without shoving a Bible down their throats. Unless this friendship is established, it is very awkward if not impossible to talk about spiritual issues. I was continually amazed at the ways God worked in the lives of those at Beach Reach.

Witnessing right in the middle of the Boardwalk, I expected the worst. However, it was nothing like what I thought it would be. The people seemed so welcoming and receptive to our message. I believe this was the case because of two factors. The first is the fact that God is at work. He has prepared our hearts as well as the hearts of the people for today. God has a perfect plan, and the people that we talked to today seemed ready to hear our message. The second factor is the fact that we made friends with the people, rather than preach at them. This helped the people on the Boardwalk realize that we are all on the same level. We are all sinners, but we as Christians have been forgiven for those sins, something that we hope the people will understand.

Today helped me understand where the “lost” world is coming from. Had I been one of those lost souls on the Boardwalk, I would much rather talk to a friendly person than listen to a shouting preacher. That is not to say that shouting preachers do not make a difference – because they do. That is simply saying that before most people can be led to Christ, there must be some sort of relationship between the witnesser and the witnessee. God showed me today that in order to bring people to Him, I must first take myself to others. God never ceases to amaze me, and everyday He shows me something new. It seems as if every day of this trip I have learned a little bit more about evangelism, and today was no different.

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