Faithfulness and Fruitfulness

The Results of Open-Air Preaching

—Adam Kuehner and Craig Scott | Features, Series | Issue: May/June 2019 | Read time: 9 minutes

Part four in a four-part series on open-air preaching. The names of the individuals being evangelized in the following accounts have been changed to protect their privacy.

Faithfulness vs. Fruitfulness?

There is a common saying in Reformed circles that goes something like this: “We are called to faithfulness, not fruitfulness.” There is some truth to this. Too many Christians today have imbibed a spirit of pragmatism, asking, “Does it work?” without considering, “Is it biblical?” In our zeal to oppose pragmatism, however, we must be careful to avoid the opposite extreme of indifference.

Fruitfulness matters. God’s methods are designed to promote fruitfulness and—to one degree or another, in God’s perfect timing—that is what we should expect to see. We are indeed called to be faithful, but true faithfulness includes a passionate, prayerful, believing desire to see results. “I would have fainted,” says the psalmist, “unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps. 27:14).

The open-air evangelist represents but one aspect of the church’s overall witness. He scatters his seed far and wide to people he may never see again. He knows that “one sows and another reaps” (John 4:37) and that God has many other faithful witnesses to help water, fertilize, prune, and harvest the spiritual fruit of his message. Still, nothing encourages his heart more than visible fruit. Let’s take a look at some uplifting accounts of what God is doing in the realm of open-air evangelism.

The Orlando Women’s Center

Recently, I (Adam) had the privilege of hearing street evangelist John Barros speak during a Sabbath school class at the Orlando, Fla., RPC. John is a longtime friend of the late Dr. R.C. Sproul and labors under the oversight of the PCA’s Reformed Evangelistic Fellowship. Every day for the last eight years, he has been preaching the gospel outside the Orlando Women’s Center (an abortion clinic) with a small team of volunteers. During that time, he has persuaded thousands of pregnant women to cancel their abortions, sending many of them to a nearby pregnancy center for medical tests and gospel-centered counsel.

John spoke of one woman who, being six months pregnant, left the clinic at his direction and went straight to the pro-life pregnancy center. Upon discovering that she had dangerously high blood pressure, they rushed her to the hospital, where doctors induced the premature delivery of her little son Marcus. Marcus was born on the very day in which the abortion doctors had been planning to take his life!

On another occasion, an angry boyfriend pointed a gun at John’s face, hoping to scare him away. Rather than run for cover, John calmly pointed to his own forehead and said, “Sir, just make sure you point that gun right here, and, while you’re at it, try not to miss, because I want to go to heaven and meet my Savior!” The startled boyfriend and his gun quickly vanished.

After meeting John on the Lord’s Day, I was able to join him the next day outside the clinic for about two hours. During that time, we spoke with a young man named Ted whose mother was sitting inside the clinic waiting for an abortion doctor to arrive from Tampa. We urged him to try and persuade her to cancel the appointment. He claimed that he personally opposed abortion, but he refused to take action.

I reminded Ted that the little baby inside his mother’s womb was, quite literally, his brother and that he ought to be his “brother’s keeper” (Gen. 4:9). In fact, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar” (1 John 4:20). This led us to review the ten commandments and discuss our great need for Jesus Christ. By the end of the conversation, Ted had gained a better understanding of the gospel and agreed to re-enter the clinic to ask his mother to reconsider.

I have no way of knowing the final outcome of this encounter, but it reinforced for me the importance of men like John Barros who labor outside abortion clinics, day in and day out. As a result of his faithfulness, countless lives have been spared, and, more importantly, souls saved by the grace of God.

The Big House in Ann Arbor

This past fall, I (Adam) joined with a group of like-minded believers to evangelize college football fans on game day just outside The Big House, home of the Michigan Wolverines.

On one such occasion, the street where we preach was teeming with thousands of fans. After concluding my sermon, I handed the microphone to my friend Jason and began to speak with inquirers. Jason proceeded to deliver a gospel message akin to Ray Comfort’s The Way of the Master, using God’s law to show sinners their need for Christ.

Several minutes into Jason’s presentation, some members of a Hare Krishna student group approached me, asking if I would like a free vegan puff pastry. Without thinking, I asked if they were gluten free and was told that they were. At this point, a student named Sarah handed me a puff pastry, which I carefully placed inside my jacket pocket. I thanked her for the gift and asked her what she thought of the message.

Sarah shared her concern that Jason was focusing too much on sin and not enough on God’s mercy. This led to a friendly conversation that lasted about 15 minutes. My basic response was that sinners will never come to Christ until they see their need for Christ. It was clear to me that she did not understand the gospel, so I made every effort to preach Christ to her. Before bidding farewell, I gave her a Ray Comfort gospel tract along with my business card. Later that day, I prayed for Sarah along with several others we had encountered that day. That was the end of it, or so I thought. About three months later, I received the following email:

Dear Adam,

I meant to write this thank you several months ago, but haven’t gotten to it ‘til now. You may not remember, but I approached you and another preacher at a U of M game—I think it was one of the last ones of the season.

I came up to you with the mentality that you all were preaching too much doom and gloom and should instead focus on explaining the divine mercy of the Lord. But you both showed me right with those Ray Comfort lectures. They were phenomenal and really blew me away. The concept that what should be preached is 90% law, and only 10% grace, now makes perfect sense to me. He is a very expert preacher, and I wanted to thank you both for shifting my perspective. As he says, if you don’t understand the severity of the disease, how will you ever appreciate the cure?

Thank you so much, and may God bless you both immensely.

Sincerely,
Sarah

Rosa Parks Circle in Grand Rapids

If you were to accompany the members of First RP Church to Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids on a Tuesday or Saturday evening, you would enjoy a sweet foretaste of heaven. In glory, there is one church of “all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” (Rev. 7:9). Similarly, we cooperate there as one body consisting of seminary students and other church members from a variety of nations and denominations: brothers and sisters from the U.S., Canada, England, Netherlands, Italy, Egypt, Singapore, Philippines, China, and South Korea all joining together to reach the lost.

God has also used us to motivate others in their personal witness. When Christians approach our outreach table confessing their personal failure to evangelize, we always seek to encourage, equip, and pray for them. On one occasion, a man was so convicted that he actually requested a handful of tracts so that he could join us.

Open-air ministry also provides a great venue for biblical counseling. A single mother shared with us that, following her conversion, a former friend had threatened to broadcast the details of her previous life of sin to the whole church. With tear-filled eyes, she exclaimed, “I will never go to church again….I am so ashamed!” We sat her down and gently comforted her with the good news that all her sins are cleansed by the blood of Jesus, who repeatedly warned his disciples of such persecution. We also urged her to speak with her pastor and elders. The next week she returned, this time with tears of joy. She had spoken to her pastor, and all was well.

We are always seeking to develop personal relationships. I (Craig) met Mark one day when I was preaching from Romans 6:23. He was a Roman Catholic with many questions about Scripture, justification, and saving grace. The following Wednesday, we began a weekly Bible study that lasted for 10 weeks, during which time he attended our church and visited my home on numerous occasions. Mark eventually left for college, hopefully still wrestling in his conscience with the all-sufficiency of the cross.

I met Sally in a more indirect way. We had been witnessing to a man named Josh for about two years before he came to church. He brought along Sally, whom we had never met. Although Josh never returned, Sally continued to attend. She had many needs, but our congregation showed her a great deal of love, kindness, and hospitality. Upon the death of Sally’s only friend—her cat named Charlie—our members drew near in genuine friendship and even helped look after her finances. This practical love helped to adorn the gospel and illustrate the immeasurable love of Christ for sinners.