Bezeugen Blast - Volume 3, Number 32- New York, New York

I found out late last week that I was going to be in New York City on company business. I flew into New York on Monday evening. Arriving at LaGuardia, I took a cab to my hotel. My cab driver was a muslim named Isa. We had a good long talk about Jesus and specifically if He is God or not. Finally, I said, "Do you consider yourself to be a good person?" and took him through the good test. Like most other Muslims I have talked too, he minimized sin saying it was a white lie or his lustful thoughts were not really adultery. I did get to share the Gospel with him and he was reasonable in acknowledging that we can't both be right. I thanked him for talking to me as our conversation lasted a good ten minutes after I had paid my bill. I left him with a Why Christianity tract.
After getting settled in my room, I headed out on the streets with a stack of Million Dollar Bills - Obama edition! First thing I noticed is that this place is crowded with thousands of people. I am staying one block from Times Square (where the ball drops on New Years Eve). Second thing I noticed is that people are leary of someone giving something away. The rate people would take them is maybe 1 in 10. I eventually was talking to a man named Schrank from Holland who said he does Evangelism at home. Then I spoke to Anthony a homeless man who was making a way for himself. He is involved in a program where he can stand at a table and collect money. The first $25 goes to the shelter. He gets to keep the rest. After a time they will put him and his family into a subsidized apartment for six months, then he is expected to pay the rent. He has already been accepted into the police academy so he will be on his feet! After asking a few probing questions, I believed he was a brother in Christ. He asked me for some tracts to give to the other families in his shelter. So I gave him about 50 of the tracts, prayed with him and continued trying to pass out the tracts. The rate people were saying no was discouraging, so I almost went back to my room. But I could here Tony saying, "Don't Quit" (for those that don't know, that is an Ambassadors Academy thing) so I decided to stick it out until all the million dollar bill tracts were gone. If I was not traveling on my companies dime, I'd probably have open aired. But, I decided it was better to "lay low". Finally I stood on one corner until I handed out all of the million dollar bill tracts. Then I went back to my hotel!
On Tuesday I had a full day of meetings and then a business dinner with members of my team and a vendor. It was after nine by the time we finished dinner. I had a stack of tracts in my pocket and Rockefeller Center was only five blocks away and really only a block out of my way of walking back to my hotel. So off I went. This time I used the wine bottle riddle tracts (you have seen them in the tract club and on One Million Tracts web site). I had about the same 1 in 10 response, except the odds got better with street vendors, door men and the like. When I was caddy corner to Radio City Music Hall, there is a fountain across the way. Probably about a hundred people sitting on the edge of eat eating, drinking and visiting. I went around the fountain handing out tracts to those that would take it. I got many rejuections saying things like, "go away", "religion is for fools" and "I don't want any". FInally I had three really good one on ones in a row. The first was with two twenty something women that said they were Orthodox. They listened intently to the Gospel. The second was with Sean and Marianne. They were late teens. Both claimed to be good. They listened intently as we went through the good test and then she defended herself when I asked for the verdict. Eventually through the court room example she understood she would be guilty and go to hell. They both did! Then they listened intently to the Gospel. Although they both claimed to know God, when I aked, "have you ever repented and trusted in Jesus", they both said, "no!". So I asked what they were waiting for. We talked about John 3:16, 19 and 36 and I pleaded with them to not put off the decision. I explained how their love of sin over the savior would prevent them from having eternal life. They thanked me for our conversation. I went from there to a group of four boys. Two were from Italy and could not understand English. One, Andy, was an atheist, and the other, Brian, was raised Catholic. We had a good conversation starting with the God proof (www.AfterLifeCatalof.com/God.html) and then going through the Ten Commandments. As we got part way in, they "suddenly" had to leave. So I quickly told Andy and Brian the Gospel and I invited Andy to request The Case for Christ from my web site. He said he would check it out. I had a few other conversations with people and handed out a bunch more tracts on the way back to the hotel.
I have one more night in New York tonight. I hope to hand out some more tracts and share the Gospel many more times. Someday, I'll have to come back to New York with my family and do some open air preaching!