Stone the Preacher

Jim Edwards saw action in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam while serving in three different branches of the military; but his greatest battle was with the enemy of our souls—and fear itself. He overcame them both, along with his lovely wife Tran, standing “on the box” (actually a bench), for the very first time, to preach the Word of God publicly. And they just graduated my last evangelism class!

At 85  and 79 years of age respectively,  Jim and Tran live out what it means to be mature in the Lord: obeying their Commanding Officer to “go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”

Want to know how they started and what they preached? Click here to see the video; you can do this, too.

UPDATE:  See bottom of post.

My posting last week, “Witnessing to Homosexuals,” created no small storm of controversy, especially among the socially liberal, atheistic crowd.

That’s to be expected.

What was curious to me was the rebuke I got from a man named Ruben Israel, a radical “Sign Guy,” who, according to one commentator, “has protested everything from the Mormons to Harley Davidson bike festivals.” He takes a vastly different approach to street preaching than I do and believes that I’m way too soft (to put it mildly) when I share my faith with the gay community. (Read an article I wrote about Sign Guys here.)

Through this conversation with Ruben Israel on FACEBOOK you will notice the difference in our approaches. All parties gave me permission to post this conversation, including Dana, a recent graduate of my evangelism class. (The conversation is “as is” except for a little bit of  re-formatting.)

Ruben Israel
What you fail to point out is homosexuals have a parade to celebrate sin.
What city ever hoisted a steal pride parade?
What city every had a lie pride week?
This is a different sinner that walks in the street promoting his sin, demanding the laws change to support his sin. When was the last time murderers demanded us to welcome them as they walked with signs upholding murder.
Your talking to someone at Starbucks vs preaching against a sodomite parade is like apples and oranges, you do understand the difference between witnessing and preaching no?
Do you think all sin is the same sin? (more…)

The crowd was big and getting bigger in front of the “No on 8″ booth sponsored by the Gay/Straight Alliance Club at El Camino College.

There was a heated discussion going on, no… make that an argument, a shouting match between the Pro-8 and the No-8 people. The gay sympathizers were loudly making their case; that was to be expected. The other side, unfortunately, was louder and unloving, angrily screaming insults at their “foe;” they were the “Christians.” Click here to read the rest.

It was the June Ambassadors’ Academy (#16) and everyone was out at the Huntington Pier preaching to all who would listen (and even a few who wouldn’t). The question: Who is the mysterious man sitting in a lotus position in front of me?

While I discoursed on sin, righteousness and the judgment to come, this guy never batted an eye nor wiggled a finger. He sat.

Behind him though, a few young men listened.

The mysterious man then disappeared! But another young man with a backpack appeared and listened intently, then…

What happened next was miraculous. You’ll have to wait until the 7:48 mark and watch the video to the end to see it. (If video doesn’t play, then click here.)

(Thanks to Allen Peek for this compilation.)

Here’s your chance to write the story that goes with these images. Be creative, real, humorous. I’ll give you the actual account sometime next week.

Just up the block on the 3rd St. Promenade, where the 16th Ambassadors’ Academy was taking place, we saw them. Whirling, jumping, bobbing. Bald heads bouncing,  pony tails-a-whisking…the Hari Krishnas were here!

In most cases, people would see the kookoo Krishna commotion and give them a wide birth; but this was an evangelism training Academy. We came to herald the Gospel.

What if  I preached the Prince of Peace from a perch on the Promenade to the happy hopping throng banging away on their tablas, tavils and dolaks? Would they attack? Would voices become one with the Vishnubirdonyou, shouting me down in a unified pyre of anger? Has such a thing ever been tried before?

A challenge presented itself. Then the miracle of 3rd Street happened. (more…)