Epiphany

One Saturday morning, last July, I went down to the local DMV to get my motorcycle licences. I got there around 7:30am to be one of the first in line. I figured since the doors don't open up to 8:00, arriving thirty minutes early should get me a top ten place in line. 

I figured wrong.

Upon arriving at the DMV, I quickly calculated the line to have well over 50 people waiting to get in. I parked my truck, got my paperwork together and got behind the last person standing in line. Yawning, I looked at my watch and got out my phone to scan the latest news that morning. After a few minutes of reading, I looked up and checked out the crowd in front of me. Everybody, it seemed, was on their phone reading, talking or listening to music.

Back to reading the news. 

By now, a couple dozen more folks had arrived and, like the rest of us nice robots, got on their phones and started reading, talking or listening to music and standing in a nice and orderly straight line.

I got fed up with the news and turned the phone off and stuck it into my pocket. I glanced ahead and started counting people. I looked behind me and counted more people. There were 77 people standing in this line not counting me.

I was already bored standing in line and I was getting fidgety. I looked up. I looked at the building. I looked at the street. I looked at the nice manicured bushes. I looked down at the asphalt. I read the guys shirt two people ahead of me. I looked back at the street. I saw a side walk. I looked back at the line I was standing in...glanced back to the sidewalk.

Hmmph.

Then I had that moment where you think of something and wonder why you never thought of it before. 

People standing in line and not going anywhere. A public sidewalk. An opportunity to proclaim the gospel to lots of people at one time.

I couldn't stop thinking about it. Finally, the doors opened up and we all like good cattle marched into the DMV and took numbers and waited to be called on. While waiting for my number to be called, I looked up on Google, "Open Air Preaching at DMV". What I found were numerous posts and articles people had written on the subject.

I went home and prayed on it for the next couple weeks. Two Saturday's later I decided to put feet to my faith and go for it. 

My brother, Vernon Costolo, came out to support me that first morning. We prayed up and went down to the sidewalk. I opened up my stool and Vernon held my AYR cross. I presented a simple, basic gospel presentation to the crowd using an amp. The distance from the sidewalk to the line is about 100' or so and there is constant traffic on the road; I wanted to make sure they heard me.

They did.

Since that first morning, I have tried to be out there every Saturday morning (Weather permitting) as long as this door is open for me to do so. My good buddy Cam comes out with me most every Saturday morning to hold the cross while I proclaim the gospel. When we finish, we offer free Bibles, DVD's and prayer if anyone desires it.

Please do not misunderstand this post as a "Look at me and what I'm doing" kind of post. I want other Christians to know that God is at work and He is always opening doors for us to share the gospel with people. Sometimes that door opens and allows us to share with one or two people on any given day. Sometimes the door opens and we have an opportunity to share with lots of people at once.

Don't miss your opportunity!

I praise God and give Him all the glory for opening the door to this opportunity! What an honor it is for us Christians to share the gospel with those whom God has set before us. Let us never grow tired of doing so and may we never lose the passion to serve Him while we traverse this world that is not our home. 

Soli Deo Gloria!

Where Have I been?

Where in the world have I been?

It has definitely been awhile since I have posted any evangelism stories on His Feet on the Street! In fact, the last post I submitted was on the Labor Day outreach way back in 2013.

To be honest, I have been struggling with "how" to post evangelism related events, stories and personal interactions. I was even on the fence of keeping up a blog at all.

Why?

Well...over the last few years I have seen my share of evangelism blogs (and Facebook posts) that seem to promote the evangelist over the glory of God. It seems it was more about the fame of the evangelist, their notoriety and their "look at what I'm doing" than about the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now there are a lot of evangelism blogs out there that blog with a uniqueness that glorifies God while not putting the spotlight on themselves; they are clearly blogging to encourage and edify fellow Christians who regularly share their faith. To be fair, if you're blogging about evangelism, there is an element where you have to talk about yourself to some degree while not coming off as bragging or being prideful in your efforts to win the lost.

I wanted to take a deep and prayerful look into why I was blogging about evangelism: Was it about me or was it about the glory of God?

I pray it was always the latter and never the former.

The first post on this blog was way back on May 5th, 2009. A few days later, I posted about HFOTS's first evangelism outreach. I remember that outing like it was yesterday! In fact, the first person to comment on the blog was my good friend and brother in the Lord, Paul Latour from the Word Street Journal!

Since that first outing, HFOTS has been blessed beyond measure to present, proclaim and tract the gospel to a number only the good Lord knows Himself.

I want this blog to edify, encourage and embolden Christians in evangelism for the glory of God - I pray that as I resume blogging with personal evangelism stories, it is never mistaken for anything more than what it is; a means by which God is glorified through the proclamation of the gospel and of His Son Jesus Christ -

Soli Deo Gloria!