Ministry Report

There was 12 evangelists that gathered on Labor Day weekend from multiple states to share the gospel throughout New York City including places like the US Open (Tennis), Citi Field (Mets – baseball), Times Square, Union Park, Madison Square Garden, Staten Island, and Hoboken (NJ).

The primary means to share the gospel was through open air preaching but also through conversations and tracts.

The pictures below are from our time of prayer with Matt Bennett of Christian union ministries. Each month he leads a time of fasting and all day prayer with a group of pastors in NYC and around the country through zoom. https://www.heritagepastors.org/key-activities.

They meet at his apartment on the 49th floor of Trump Tower. Judah Marx is part of the watchmen pastors network that Matt Bennett leads as well. https://www.christianunion.org/about/who-we-are/executive-leadership-team

Heath Pucel was able to join last month. It was a very encouraging time. Judah was able to give a testimony with all the pastors of the US Open outreach and they hope to partner next year.

Here are some conversation stories to give you an idea of the impact that God made on not only the masses, but the individuals!

Friday Night: 

Joseph and girlfriend – They were filming the preaching so I started talking with them about one of the questions from a sign. They are atheists from Tel Aviv on vacation who were extremely secular and anti-religion. We chatted about the purpose of life and they said we should just be good people. We talked about the October 7 events and we talked about the sheer evil that took place on that day (which they appreciated I said that). In light of this, there clearly is evil and we talked about the origin of morality which they claimed was evolution. We reasoned and talked through the evidences of God for about 45 minutes. We talked about how if there was an evidence that proved there was God, they would believe in that said God but may not follow them so we reasoned that it is an authority issue rather than evidence. They talked negatively about the Bible but then they admitted they never actually read it before. They committed to at least reading part of the Bible so I gave them a gospel of John and they said thank you for the conversation so it ended in a calm manner. 

Saturday: 

Dante – Dante came up to the sign “What % of people are good” and he said it is likely zero due to all the wickedness in the world. He was clearly frustrated and hopeless about the world. I had agreed with him but told him there IS a solution and good news to this. I talked about the character of God and how in LOVE He sent Jesus. I asked who Jesus was to Dante and he said “I have no idea, can you tell me?” (side bar – this is why we NEED to share the gospel, many have no idea who Jesus is!) I shared the gospel and he started crying and he said that he had never heard this before. He had to go since he was late for work at the US Open but he wanted to connect more so I gave him a gospel of John and a contact card. Pray for Dante that he would be saved and find good discipleship. 

Edwin – Police officer right outside of the US Open and he came up to the good person sign. He was with 2 other police officers and they were talking about it amongst themselves so I stepped forward and joined the conversation. The 2 other police officers backed away some so I just talked to Edwin. We went through the whole gospel and he said he had heard of this before, but was sharing about the hopelessness of this world and all the PTSD from his job in NYPD (14 years). He shared how there was minimal help for PTSD within the police force. He said he has been in dark places recently, including suicidal thoughts, and he has wanted to go back to church. I shared the gospel again, my testimony and the power of Jesus over the darkness and our thoughts. I prayed with him as well and he said afterwards that he felt changed and something just happened to him. I encouraged him to get into the Word of God, a Bible believing church to encourage him. Pray for him, and also the cops that see so much wicked and demonic things. 

Eston – A Jehovah witness who I talked to for 30 minutes. We were just turning through scripture and we talked through Ephesians 2:8-10 and he strangely agreed that it is not by works that we are saved. I joked with him that he is a bad JW then! Anyway, we then went through the deity of Jesus, John 1 and Colossians 1 and he had some poor arguments that Jesus was not God. We then went through the verses of John 8 and he said that he never heard the connection of the burning bush “I Am” statement and Jesus claiming the same name and words. He said he would think through that so pray that God would open his mind and heart to believe. 

Martin – Muslim man from the Dominican Republic who was 40 years old and had a dream of Jesus at the age of 8 that he STILL thinks about his whole life because it shook him so much. John first shared the gospel with him and Martin was extremely open and said that he wanted to take faith more seriously now (not a fully practicing muslim). I (Kevin) then shared about some differences between the 2 faiths and he said he never realized these things. Between John and I, we probably talked to him for almost an hour and God seemed to be really opening his mind and heart – pray that he reads the gospel of John and that he gets saved and discipled!

Jerry – He came up to pray at MSG and so I told him we pray to Jesus so we talked about who Jesus is. I asked him if he knew Jesus and was born again and he said that his family was born again but not him because he has sinned too much. I shared the gospel that we can be saved from the uttermost and he started crying – he said he needed to be forgiven. I prayed over him that God would open his eyes and have mercy and save him. Jerry then prayed himself and it was a beautiful confession of his sins and trust in Jesus. He knew a bible believing church that he was going to go to the next morning. I do believe God was doing something miraculous in this experience and I’m praying that Jerry truly follows Jesus and God provides people around him to disciple him. 

Rolando and Friends – Rolando was in Hoboken and just got out of jail 2 weeks ago and he was on the way to the bar. He said he got saved at a church this week and he knew he should not be going to the bar so he thanked us for being there. We shared the gospel and answered a lot of questions and 2 of the 3 guys were crying, one of them having trouble believing God could actually love him. Roy and I were talking with them for probably 20 minutes and it was sweet. We got there phone number and we will connect with them soon. 

Jack – Chinese young adult who got saved 5 years ago in Georgia but just moved to work in the hedgefund companies on Wall Street. He was at the bar just to find friends because he said he can’t find any churches with young adults. He thanked us for being there and we are planning to help him find a local church. 

Sunday:

Kyle – He was a chef for the players at the US Open and seemingly doing extremely well in life and even “famous”. There were 3 separate preachers at the US Open and Kyle came up to the Purpose sign and said that the purpose was to make the world better for our children. Joe and I talked about God being involved in giving us purpose and then he immediately said “Can I do a confession session with both of you?” We shared how we can confess directly to Jesus and shared the gospel briefly, but we said we would be glad to listen. He shared how he has been having affairs with multiple women for a few years and he still has a wife and a couple small kids. He was crying and asked how he could change and get through this so we again shared the gospel and how he needs to confess these things to his wife too. He talked about his anger towards God for his dad leaving him and being bullied when he was young so we talked about the character of God and that He did not CAUSE that. He had to go to start cooking for the players but we prayed over him and he was weeping. He took a gospel of John and a contact card – pray for him to take steps in repentance and faith in Jesus!