Clothing Drive 2012

This past Saturday, "His Feet on the Street" sponsored a clothing drive in the parking lot of the Ingles supermarket in Canton, Georgia. Although lots of clothes, house hold items and food was given away for free, the main goal of this event was to take the biblical Gospel to the people of the community.

A dedicated team of compassionate laborers for Christ arrived early and began hauling tables, setting up tables, sorting clothes, organizing stations and cooking food. Thank you to all the volunteers who sacrificed their time,energy, money and sweat for the glory of the Lord!

A big thank you to the Ingles supermarket for the parking lot space and a special thank you to the Cherokee Armory for the tables. Even though there was a door closed to us from what we thought would be a reliable source, we trusted that God would provide with all that we needed to make the event a success for His glory...and provide He did!!!

Here is how the event process worked: Each person that came through the line received five tickets. One ticket equaled one article of clothing or one house hold item. When the person got to the end of the clothing tables, they would redeem the tickets for the items and we would bag them up. Once the items were bagged up, we would share the Gospel with them.

Every person that came through the line was personally witnessed to. After we shared the Gospel, they would proceed on to get the free hotdogs, chips and drink.


We were able to biblically share the Gospel with roughly 200-250 people Saturday...Praise God!

I hope to be able to post some stories from others who helped out Saturday, but while it is fresh on my mind I would like to share a few conversations I had.

Before we were even complete with the set-up, I noticed a young man sitting down on the curb between where we were and the YMCA parking lot. I grabbed some tracts and headed over to see if I could have a chat with him. The young man was on the cell phone and was kind enough to tell the person on the line (Do we still say "line" for a cell phone) that he would call him back in a few minutes.

I started the conversation by telling him what we were doing on the other side of the lot and invited him over  in a little bit to get some free clothes and food if he so desired. He asked why we were doing that and I told him we had an ulterior motive; we care about where people would be spending their eternity. So, after handing him a Million Dollar Bill, I asked him the million dollar question: If you were to die today, where do you think you would spend eternity?

He actually said that he had been thinking a lot about that lately and had been reading many books to help answer that question. I asked what kind of books had he been reading and he mentioned several books that I could only describe as "New Age"philosophy books. He told me that he had basically come to the conclusion that all religions were more or less the same and that space aliens would ultimately usher in the apocalypse that the book of Revelation talks about.

We danced around the sinfulness of man and then I made it personal to him. He told me that he had never lied for a bad reason. All the lies he has told were to help out his friends or family. He said that he never once taken anything that was not his...but if he had, it would not have been his fault, but societies fault for causing him to do it. He never came out and admitted he had sinned in anyway, shape or form even after going through all the Commandments.

He went on to talk about the Deity of Christ, the Trinity, space aliens, the Government, etc. I tried to stay on point, but conversation with him seemed like trying to catch a greased pig. I eventually steered the conversation back around to sin, death, wrath of God, Judgment and eternity in Hell for sinning against God. As hard as it was to get there, I shared with him what God did for us so that we could be forgiven of our sins and be free from His wrath on Judgment Day.

I gave him a "Why Christianity" booklet and Cam gave him a Bible. We shook his hand and went back over to the clothing drive set up.

Another conversation I had before we began was with a young lady who had stopped by to ask if she could donate some clothes for the drive. My wife had been chatting with her when I got the "come over here now" wave. When I walk up my wife explained why the young lady was there and that she had grown up in a non-practicing Christian home, met and married a Muslim man and had since converted to Islam.

The lady started telling me what a good thing it was that we were doing and that she believed that the Bible and the Koran were both true. She also went on to tell me that she thought Jesus was a good man and prophet and that Allah and the God of the Bible were the same.

I asked here what the test of a prophet was in Islam. She said that a prophet always speaks the truth. I asked her if she really believed that. She said yes. So I said if a prophet always speaks the truth, and, according to you Jesus was a prophet, then everything Jesus said was true? Is that right?

She said yes.

So I asked her if Jesus was speaking the truth when He said He was the way, the truth and the life and that that no one goes to the Father except through Him?

She just looked at me. So I broke the silence by saying that by her own words this must be true. If Jesus was a prophet, and a prophet always speaks the truth, then Jesus was speaking the truth when He spoke those words.

She then countered with the Bible Christians have today is not the original Scriptures. She said that in the first or second century, the original Scriptures were lost and the translations we have today are not trustworthy.

I said that is not what you stated a few minutes ago. I told her that she started off by saying that the Bible and the Koran were both true. So either the Bible is true or it is not. She said a few other things not related to what we were talking about and shifted on to saying that Christians believe that Jesus is God. She said that Jesus was not God, never claimed to be God and was just the "son" of God.

She said that no where in the Bible would we find Jesus claiming to be God. I said what about Jesus saying that He and the Father are one. Or how about Jesus telling Philip that if he (Philip) has seen the Son, he had seen the Father. Or what about Jesus saying that before Abraham was, I Am? I said that those Jewish rulers knew exactly what Jesus meant when He spoke the words "I Am". That's why they wanted to kill Him on the spot for blasphemy -

The lady changed the subject pretty quick and said that there were people waiting for her and she had to get on back to them. We shook hands and I gave her a ministry card which has a detailed Gospel message on the back.

There were many conversations that day but one last one I want to share was with a lady named Shareeka (sp?). Shareeka joked and laughed for most of our conversation and seemed very apathetic towards the Gospel.

Shareeka believed that God was God of love and kindness and would never punish anyone...let alone send anyone to Hell for eternity. I immediately took her through the Good Person test (which she failed). She admitted to being a liar, a thief and a blasphemer. But even though she believed she would stand before God one Day, she refused to believe that God would punish her for breaking His law.

I believe, in Shareeka's mind, "God" is a grandfatherly figure type who is sitting around on a Heavenly porch just waiting for all his kids to show up so He can give them a big hug and kiss. I gave Shareeka earthy examples of breaking the law and having to pay the consequences. I told her no matter how much she may think a judge is loving and kind, he would have to follow the law and sentence her for her crimes or he would be a derelict judge.

I tried to explain to her that the very thing she was relying on to save her on Judgment Day (God's love) was the very thing that will condemn her to an eternity in Hell. God is either going to see her as a transgressor of His law (a sinner) and she was personally going to pay for sinning against God, or, she needed Someone, an  Advocate, to stand in her place on that Great Day.

I explained Who that Advocate is and shared the Gospel with her. I told her about the finished work of Christ at Calvary and that God commands her to repent and put her faith alone in Christ alone for salvation.

Shareeka laughed, smiled and thanked me for talking with her. She cracked a few jokes and then wanted her picture made with me    ~ sigh ~

I am not sure why she laughed and joked around so much. Maybe it was one of those nervous laughs. Maybe there were influencing circumstances. Maybe she just didn't care what the crazy Jesus freak had to say. I don't know.

One thing is for sure though: There will be a Day when Shareeka, like all of us, will stand before a just and holy God. And on that Day there will be no joking around. There will be no do-overs...no second chances to get it right. There will be no pleading or begging. There will be no persuading God to see it your way. There will only be you and God and your sin that He hates.

God will not turn a blind eye or give you a wink and excuse you for transgressing His law. If you die in your sins you will spend an eternity in Hell with the wrath of God abiding on you; forever -

The Gospel truth is that Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried and rose again three days later defeating death and conquering the grave.

God commands you to repent and put your faith in the One who will stand as your mediator between you and God.

Those are just a few conversations I had and I hope to have some more from the others over the next couple weeks along with different photo's.

Please pray that God will draw to Himself those He desires to save, opens their blind eyes and leads them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ for His glory and His glory alone.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Happy GOOD Friday...Thank you Jesus!

A bird's-eye view of Hell!

"I beg you, father Abraham--send Lazarus to my father's house! For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don't end up in this place of torment!" Luke 16:27-28

Jesus takes off the covering from the bottomless pit--and gives us a bird's-eye view of Hell!

There is a young man there. He was rich. He was surrounded by a multitude of earthly goods. He has forfeited them all--and now he is in Hell. His doom is fixed--and fixed forever. He cannot obtain one single drop of water to cool his parched tongue!

He finds that it is now no use asking favors for himself. But he has brothers--five brothers. Can he prevent their coming to Hell? He will try. He therefore prays that Lazarus may become a missionary--and be sent on a mission of mercy to his father's house. Hear him: "I beg you, father Abraham--send Lazarus to my father's house!" Who would expect to find mercy in Hell--or pity in Hell--or prayer in Hell! But here it is!

Can earth be worse than Hell? Can professed Christians be worse than this lost soul? Shall lost souls in Hell wish to send someone to their ungodly relatives--if possible to prevent their damnation--and will you neglect your relatives? Has pity for the souls of your lost relatives no influence on you?

Is Hell only a fable?

Is eternal torment only a trifle?

How then, can you let them go to Hell without pity or concern?

Souls are perishing!

Hell is filling!

Time in flying!

Are you, can you be careless about the eternal happiness or eternal misery of the souls around you?

Where, O where is your pity for poor perishing sinners?

(James Smith, "A Voice from Hell!" 1856)

Have Christians LOST Our Heart for the LOST? - Timothy Gray Muse

 From All Things Reformed

After reading and being reminded again this past week how Jesus WEPT as he approached Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, I meditated, asking myself the question “Do I and other Christians today – WEEP over the lost – the way Jesus did?”

Sadly, as I survey my own present heart and much of what I see on the whole in the life of the church, I confess my answer is “No.”

I come to this conclusion after comparing Jesus’ example with my own recent thoughts and track record, with that which I observe in the lives of those I regularly read or communicate with, along with those things in the church as a whole which seem to consume our time, direct our attention, occupy our passions, fill our conversations, and form our service and labors of ministry.

While the things I speak of do not apply to all, it seems that while many of us in the church have become adept at doing things like doctrinally defending God’s justice against the non-elect while extending his redemptive mercies and grace to the elect, and preaching and explaining how the gospel is to be held out to all, and how the reach of missions is to extend to the ends of the earth, … that at the level of our hearts – we do not tend to be as broken, caring, warmhearted and concerned as Christ over those who lack peace either temporally and/or eternally and who experience difficulties of various kinds and measures on a daily basis because they fail to recognize God’s coming to them in Christ.

After meditating on this question this past week and praying, I went for a run to get some exercise on a bright and beautiful day. In God’s providence in the course of my three mile run, I was interrupted and called over to talk to three individuals (one of which I never met before, another which I only spoke to once in passing on a former run, and the other a man of whom I had become aware of the presence of some personal issues but whom up until this day I had never spoken with directly about these problems) who ended up asking or accepting an offer for me to pray for them or a family member.

Read rest of post HERE

What do you say to someone who says they don't believe in Heaven or Hell?

Are you willing to reach down into the fire?

Suppose that, by some painful operation, you could have your right arm made a little longer, I do not suppose you would care to undergo the operation; but if you foresaw that, by undergoing the pain, you would be enabled to reach and save drowning men who else would sink before your eyes, I think you would willingly bear the agony, and pay a heavy fee to the surgeon to be thus qualified for the rescue of your fellows.

Reckon, then, that to acquire soul-winning power you will have to go through fire and water, through doubt and despair, through mental torment and soul distress. It will not, of course, be the same with you all, nor perhaps with any two of you, but according to the work allotted you, will be your preparation. You must go into the fire if you are to pull others out of it, and you will have to dive into the floods if you are to draw others out of the water. 

You cannot work a fire-escape without feeling the scorch of the conflagration, nor man a lifeboat without being covered with the waves. If Joseph is to preserve his brethren alive, he must himself go down into Egypt; if Moses is to lead the people through the wilderness, he must first himself spend forty years there with his flock. Payson truly said, "If anyone asks to be made a successful minister, he knows not what he asks; and it becomes him to consider whether he can drink deeply of Christ's bitter cup and be baptized with His baptism."

I often feel very grateful to God that I have undergone fearful depression of spirits. I know the borders of despair, and the horrible brink of that gulf of darkness into which my feet have almost gone; but hundreds of times I have been able to give a helpful grip to brethren and sisters who have come into that same condition, which grip I could never have given if I had not known their deep despondency. So I believe that the darkest and most dreadful experience of a child of God will help him to be a fisher of men if he will but follow Christ.


Charles Spurgeon -

Depravity's Got Talent

 From Tony Miano at Cross Encounters

Does today's post title have you a little perplexed? Allow me to explain.

It was only 100 degrees, today, on Avenida Entrana. I think it may be premature to call it a "cooling trend." Once again, affirming and friendly motorists far out numbered the angry ones. But of all the motorists who passed by, one in particular is etched in my memory.

Traveling at no less than 40 mph, a man on a motorcycle approached the intersection, heading eastbound on Lyons Avenue. Before he entered the intersection, he rose to his feet and stood straight as an arrow. Then he slowly stretched his arms out to his sides, with his palms facing forward, and tilted his head back. He maintained this position all the way though the intersection. He was living proof that depravity's got talent. But his talent was overshadowed by his blasphemous display as he mockingly tried to mimic Jesus hanging on the cross.

The Lord, however, would redeem the time on Avenida Entrana.

I was just about to leave to meet Mahria and the girls at In-n-Out Burger for dinner when I was approached by two Hispanic gang members. Now, some who read this may jump at the chance to call me judgmental for referring to the two young men as gang members. But having worked as a gang investigator for a number of years, I believe the old adage is still true. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck; well, it's probably a duck.

Both were dressed in the latest in gangster apparel, complete with baggy pants, monogrammed belt buckles and matching dark baseball hats, and the usual array of costume jewelry. Both had tattoos that looked like they either etched their own body or an even less talented body artist did it for them. One was short. One was tall.

"Ready for what?" The short one said with a sarcastic tone and a grin on his face.

"Eternity. Are you guys ready for eternity?"

"When is that?" The short one asked.

"When you die. We're all going to die someday. Right?"

Both nodded their heads and agreed. In their answer, each tried to express their lack of concern with a little false bravado.

"So, what's going to happen to you guys when you die?" I asked.

Neither knew for sure, but both affirmed a belief in heaven and hell.

"What does a person have to do to go to heaven?" I asked.

"Be good." They answered.

"Have you guys been good?"

They laughed and shook their heads.

I took the two young men through the Law, with both admitting to being lying, thieving, blasphemous, murderers-at-heart. Before I could even ask what they thought God would do with them if He found them guilty of breaking His Law, the shorter one looked at the ground and said, "I'm going to hell."

The taller one nodded his head in agreement.

"Does that concern you guys?" I asked. Both said that it did.

"Do you have any idea what God did so that you might not have to spend eternity in hell?"

"Jesus died on the cross." The taller one answered.

"Have either of you been in a courtroom?"

"In a courtroom?" The shorter one asked.

"Yes--in a courtroom."

"Yeah."

"Me, too. In fact, I probably spent a lot more time in courtrooms then either of you. I was a deputy sheriff and I worked COBRA (the gang unit at Santa Clarita station)."

Their eyes grew as large as saucers.

The shorter one chuckled and said, "Oh, man. I'm outta here."

"Don't worry about it. I'm retired, now."

I took the two young men through the courtroom analogy. As I did, a sheriff's patrol car slowly made its way through the intersection. I made eye contact with the deputy and gave the customary nod of acknowledgement. I'm sure the sight of a guy holding a large cross talking to two gangsters was probably something he doesn't see every day.

When I turned back around, both of the young men's eyes were fixed on the patrol car. Their posture seemed to indicate that they were ready to run if the patrol car stopped.

I stepped between them and their view of the patrol car. "Relax. Nothing is going to happen." I said.

I shared the gospel with them. The taller one said, "I understand what you're saying."

"Get right with God, you guys. You're not promised tomorrow. And the time to get right with God isn't when you're standing before Him waiting to be judged. That would be like standing before a judge in a courtroom and saying, 'Judge, I didn't think I would get caught. I didn't think the jury would find me guilty. And I didn't think you would punish me. So, I think you should just let me go and forget about the whole thing.'

"A good judge would turn to you and say, 'You should have thought about that before you broke the law.' And the same will be true when you stand before God.

"Does that make sense?"

"Yeah it does." They answered.

We shook hands and I asked them to think carefully about what I told them. They said that they would.

They started to cross the street.

"You guys be careful."

"We will!"

I walked to my car, praying for those two young men the entire way. Once again, I thanked God for using the cross to give me the opportunity to share the gospel with two young men I may not have ever met, otherwise.