3 Years of Preaching Without a License

“Righteous” Richard Chavarria celebrated three years of preaching at the DMV last week. (He started on February 28, 2007.) During that time he has spoken to 11,051 hearers and has handed out 14, 947 Gospel tracts. You can print off and memorize his message by typing “Open Air Preaching Speech” in the search bar. Now, watch him in action:

You never know what God has in store for you. After Richard retired from the City of L.A. he decided he was going to serve the Lord—by working in the parking ministry of Hope Chapel. He wondered if that was all God had for him, after all, he had been a Christian now for 18 years.

Well Lo! and Behold! he ended up taking the very first evangelism class that I taught in 2006.

As homework, I give each student a pack of Gospel tracts which they are to hand out, one each day, every day of the class.

Richard didn’t.

In fact, he hid his tracts in the glove compartment of his car. Not only that, he sat in a different seat every week of the class so I wouldn’t call on him. Talk about bold!

At the end of the course he had handed out absolutely no tracts and had no conversations with anybody about their eternal destination. Nada.

Then one day I asked him to be on the “J” team; that is, the Jesus Team, our brand spanking new evangelism group. (I don’t know why I asked him.) To my surprise, he agreed to join us on our evangelistic outings and—the rest is history. A year later he started preaching every week at the DMV.

Not only does Richard preach twice every week at the Hawthorne DMV, he has also led teams at the Way of the Master’s Ambassadors’ Academy.

Who knows what God will do with you when you say “Yes” to sharing your faith?

Comments (17)

  1. Reply

    Praise God for men like Richard, who will stand in this wicked and perverse generation and boldly proclaim the Gospel.Press On Brother!

  2. Val

    Reply

    Great video Peter. Rich, you have always inspired me and I thank God. That is such a great example of pure and true evangelism, and every pastor in the world should see this.

  3. Rachael

    Reply

    God bless you Richard! I thank God for you. Keep up the good work, keep running the race, knowing that your rewards are in Heaven!

  4. Steve R

    Reply

    Praise God for Righeous Richard – I love the non-offensive tone of his voice – blessing to serve with him !

  5. Steve R

    Reply

    What’s so great about this is that Richard pioneered this – one of the things that impresses me so much about Ray comfort is not just his service to the kingdom NOW, but many years of preaching in Christchurch NZ with no wingmen, no “Hells Best Kept Secret,” no fans on facebook, just pioneering – and that’s kind of like what we see here, which is why I like how Peter wove in the 2007 videos.

  6. Ed L

    Reply

    Hi Steve,

    This is an inspiring story… I’m actually getting ready to go to the Ambassadors Alliance next month and I’ve never open aired and so I would like to be prepared to step out of my comfort zone.

    Is there a way that I could get my hands on the “Open Air Preaching Speech”? Your help would be appreciated brother.

  7. Laurie G

    Reply

    I am so encouraged by this. It is amazing to see what God will do with someone who was afraid to pass out tracts! Glory to God, keep up the good work Richard!

    I tried to find the “Open Air Preaching Speech” but could not. could you send me the actual link? Thanks so much!

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