The Everyday Club Report for August: Preaching the Gospel…to the City Council!!!

37 CommentsAbnormal Evangelism Ideas, EVERYDAY CLUB

I squirmed a little when I watched Anthony Martin give a three minute Gospel message to the Torrance City Council at their weekly meeting. (The message starts at the  04:34 mark). A bead of sweat formed on my brow, too. (Details below the video.)

Why did he do it?

On the last day of my evangelism class I asked the students, “What unusual place do you think you may want to preach the Gospel?” This was after I had shown them that in America they can preach anywhere, from football games, to In N’ Out Burger; from stop lights to the Porta-Potties at the Rose Parade; from outdoor beer gardens to inside elevators!

Two men raised their hands. The first one said, “I want to share the Gospel at AA meetings.” I encouraged him that after he got kicked out, there are plenty more in the South Bay area where we live.

The second man, Anthony, said that he wanted to share at the Torrance City Council meeting. “How are you going to do that?” I asked.

“Everyone gets three minutes to talk. I’m going to share the most important message they can hear.” Frankly, I didn’t think he would. He was one the quietest guys in my class. Well, imagine my surprise when he sent me a portion of the city’s public access channel—and there he was!

Okay. The cute little jibes directed at the “politicians” didn’t add anything to the message; but remember: He just learned to share his faith; and here he was, doing something incredibly bold!!! I’m very proud of him! (The motto of my class is: “Go and make mistakes!” by the way.) Good job, Anthony! (By the way, his wife is also very shy and unassuming, yet she graduated at the top of the class and now thinks she may be an evangelist). Just goes to show what a little evangelistic knowledge can do.

Are you still being bold for the Lord? Are you still a member of The Everyday Club? If so, let everyone know how you did in your evangelistic commitment for August by posting your totals in the comments section below!

Wanna join the Club? Click here to find out how.

Read about my “illegal” City Council invocation here.

Read about my “legal” evangelistic City Council prayer here.

Comments (37)

  1. Steve Sanchez

    Reply

    I missed several days while in Vietnam (I don’t have the same freedom there as I do here.) So… I probably met my goal about 20 days or so. But I’m back on track now!

  2. Cory McKenna

    Reply

    Hey Steve,

    Had a VERY busy August preaching “inner air” at various churches and conferences, so here are my numbers for the month:

    Tracts passed: 500+
    One-to-ones: 75+
    Open Airs: 7
    Inner Airs: 5

    I thank God for you, brother!

    In Christ,
    Cory

  3. Thomas Moore

    Reply

    The month of August was a great month in doing evangelism (it helped that I had three weeks off of school, freed up my time). Handed out a lot of tracts and got to share the gospel to a worker outside of Wal-Mart. Now this coming weekend Lord willing I can get to a huge Labor Day parade in a nearby town to do some evangelism! All glory to God!!!

  4. Jeff Reiman

    Reply

    i missed 2 days, but was blessed to have good gospel conversations on the rest! Stories of some of these conversations are found on my blog, Jeff

  5. Bro 310

    Reply

    Might I suggest the bathroom at any truck stop or large gas station. You would have a completely captive audience. The acoustics would be good too.

  6. Thomas Moore

    Reply

    I watched the video, that was awesome! You could tell that Anthony was nervous, but HE DID IT ANYWAY!!! I once read a quote that read (don’t remember who said it) “Speak up even if your voice shakes!” Great job Anthony may God bless you, Pastor Steve and the rest of the evangelism team out there in Torrance City as you proclaim the gospel!

  7. Anthony

    Reply

  8. Aaron Jackson

    Reply

    Anthony is a close friend of mine, and I was really impressed with him too. We had some lengthy discussion about the “cute little jibes”, but at the end of the day it was an incredibly awesome thing to do. Watching the vid makes you nervous, but the reason is because inside we all know how difficult it would be to stand in his shoes. I wonder what would happen if this started happening in every city council meeting across America…maybe every time they meet!? What say Anthony, ready for an encore?

  9. Richard Chavarria

    Reply

    My everyday club goal for 2011 is to do something evangelistic to spread the good news. It could be to pass out one or a hundred tracts; it could be to witness to one or more persons using the Law and Gospel; or it could be to preach in the open air; or in doors as the Lord directs.

    I missed by goal by 7 days.

  10. Garrett

    Reply

    Kicked out of an AA meeting?

    That’s a bit strange considering that AA is largely a Christian/Religious organization. Maybe he meant AAA 😛

  11. Richard Chavarria

    Reply

    Anthony, that was simply beautiful. I love the part when you said your politicians you have had to have told a lie. Talk about being bold for the kingdom. wow. wow. That was off the charts good. Your sincere manner, your natural presentation, your jesters and the clarity of your speech and the words you used, all just right. To God be the glory.

  12. Anthony

    Reply

    Thank you Richard. I was tempted to ditch my notes and just proclaim “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is here!” and walk away. But when the woman before me talked about getting undressed to watch the council meeting, I thought, there’s no way I could embarrass myself any more than she did. It didn’t help my jitters, though.

    Aaron, encore is a great idea. There are neighboring cities that typically welcome folks to speak at their council meetings especially if they are from immediately nearby. I have been looking into the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. They have a similar “anything goes” segment for their meetings. I’m not making any promises because their meetings take place in the morning.

  13. Mika

    Reply

    This month was amazing. I just arrived home from 2 weeks of ministry in Zambia.. The people is very open for God – thu there is a lot of religion down there, they all have the concept of God (Rom 1:20) so not much apologetics is needed just a ton of Gospel preaching because they are very hungry of the Word of God!
    Amazing, passed a lot of tracts and God to preach the Gospel for many thousands of Zambians who was deeply moved by the law and the Gospel!!

    Praise God!!!
    Blessings,
    Mika

  14. Beth

    Reply

    Goal of passing out atleast 5 tracts per day was missed by a couple of days

    OA 7
    Tracts 1,400
    One2ones 11

    One special one2one was with a man, Dwayne, who is in a wheelchair because of a job accident – falling off a building. He blames God for all the evil in the world – and allowing his accident. Please pray for him – he did take a LW Bible to read – praise God for His Word! Sola scriptura!

  15. Cheryl

    Reply

    I would have to say that I met my goal most days – maybe 2 or 3 days I did not. However, some days I did more in one day than the rest of the month combined! This is on account of a couple of friends who are REALLY fired up about sharing their faith and…they take me (and others) along with them. There is open-air preaching, tracts and conversations. I hope to grow more and more in this direction of my walk with Jesus. Before I close I must say – God bless you, Anthony! Wow!

  16. Anthony Varon

    Reply

    Good Morning!! SO my goal is to share my faith with 1 persons one2one or 10 tracts a day. I missed 3 days but got into about 120 one2one conversations and passed out about 200 tracts, it was a good month even when I didn’t feel like being out there, God allowed me to minister the gospel to a dark world!

  17. Ed Lee

    Reply

    I missed the first 11 days of the month while on a mission trip to Vietnam. When I got back I was tired!! Missed the first week upon returning, but I am back on track now with my goal of at least 1 tract or 1 conversation or 1 open air per day.

    Labor on!!

  18. Robert Moss

    Reply

    Hopefully, after I am off work 5pm on Saturday I can journey to the strip(pray for a open parking space after the game) and pass out gospel tracts and read the Bible. Last week I got called an apostate by a Catholic, was told I was full of S*^%$ by an atheist scientist, and interrupted by Muslims chanting “Great is Allah”. Let see what happens this weekend. Lord willing.

    I had fun passing out several hundred tracts(many to returning college students). Put hundreds of tracts in the Witchcraft/new age section to the closing Borders books stores. Open air preached in Market Square(downtown Knoxville, TN) and on the the College Strip.

    I gained an extra buddy. It was given to me by one my church elders who is a former Marine. He told me if I am going out by myself in the evening(suggesting I shouldn’t for safety) but if no one was willing to go with me from church, to have something on me to protect me ONLY in the case I am unable to run from the situation and am backed in a corner, I should YELL Twice to an attacker to step back, then only after all other options are exhausted, defend myself. I will not tell you what kind of buddy(dont worry it is not a gun) but if I am going to be like the prophets that were alone in open air preaching, I need to show wisdom when by myself.
    Luckily I have only be shoved off the sidewalk to oncoming traffic once, and shoved into a flower garden.

    I would ask Steve to do a blog if he has not done one already on precautions to take if you are left to do evangelism on your own. Sometimes in smaller churches, you may be the only evangelist in the church.
    Awesome on Anthony preaching in a city council meeting.

  19. jen

    Reply

    We should all be doing this. Since we have not done this maybe this is what is wrong with our country. Wow, We should each do this. My heart pounds watching this too, but this is amazing.

  20. Thomas Moore

    Reply

    Pastor Steve- Just thought of a question enlight of having your evangelism class go to different places to preach. Did you ever do an inner-air in a movie theater? I remember you talking about your plans to do it but I don’t remember if I read your report on what happened after the fact? Just curious. God bless!

  21. Whateverman

    Reply

    Steve, it occurs to me that encouraging someone to get kicked out of an AA meeting is actually destructive. If your budding evangelist was there because he needed to be there, suggesting that discretion is the better part of valor might have been the better option…

  22. Melissa Burdett

    Reply

    By the grace of God, in the month of August, I gave away 398 tracts. I had 7 conversations about the gospel, some with more than one person. I preached the gospel open air 4 times.

  23. Toni Alvarez

    Reply

    I almost met my goal on passing out tract.
    I mailed 5 (solicitor) junk mail envelops with $1 million tracts in them.
    I was able to do 4 phone one2ones with phone solicitors
    and 16 online one2ones at omegle.

      • Toni Alvarez

        Click on my name and you will be taken there.
        I found out about this website by Toni Miano from
        OnTheBox.us He shared on the show that his
        wife goes there to share the gospel so I decided to
        do the same.

  24. Sheri

    Reply

    My goal is minimum three tracts daily. I missed my goal about five days in August as I adjusted to a new job. I witnessed one-to-one with a lady at a local store and with a couple mormons at my door. I read this quote and wanted to share it in the case it may encourage someone else going through a difficult time:
    “To have something to do for Jesus, and to go right on with it, is one of the best ways to get over a bereavement, or any other mental depression. If you can pursue some great object, you will not feel that you are living for nothing.” – Spurgeon

  26. Eric Stefan

    Reply

    My goal is to hand out at least one tract a day. I missed one day.
    I handed out 304 tracts and had five 1-2-1’s .

    Wow, Anthony, that was incredibly bold and encouraging! Even though you were scared with voice breaking, you didn’t give up. Fantastic! Way to go!

    Praise to God in the highest!!!

  27. Eric Stuckey

    Reply

    A very productive month! I think I missed 3 days, but otherwise the church evangelism fellowship is growing as we continue to meet Monday nights. Two from our team went on a mission trip to Ethiopia where they discovered a wide open door. We printed gospel tracts in Amharic and rejoiced as they quickly distributed over 2500. The wotm method works all over the world. Soli Deo Gloria!

  28. Samuel

    Reply

    I have been just uncommitted to everyday evangelizing. I probably witnessed 15 out of the 31 days. One of my problems is that I am unwilling (weak) to evangelize when I am at the grocery store or fast food restaurant. Right now I am not outside of the house everyday, so I have to either make the most of the few moments I am, or go out intentionally to talk to one person.
    I just read a 2 year old article about Moody here and it gave me the desire to commit again to the everyday club.

  31. Sue Joubert

    Reply

    Anthony- Praise God for your boldness and obdience. The Spirit was able to use you in a mighty way. I prayed for all those present that God would touch their hearts with your words from God’s word. Thank you for your encouragement!

    • Steve Sanchez

      Reply

      Trish,

      All you have to do is go to your local council meeting. I believe that there are “Free Nights” where anyone can say anything!

      God bless.

      • Anthony

        If they follow the standard council agenda, and most do, there is always a 30 minute segment where comments from the audience are accepted. They request that you tell them ahead of time, but if you go up unannounced, they just ask that you wait until the end of the segment.

  33. Pastor Ed

    Reply

    August was hit and miss but I just order 1400 tracts. Back on the wagon. goals are 4 a day or one 1-1 conversation .
    4His Glory

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