As I(Jonathan) was leaving an ASU game I once had a guy scream in my face, “You’re Lost, you’re going to HELL!!!!” He had a huge sign with a list of sins(liars, fornicators, Hip-Hoppers, feminists, dancers, ect.) and he would say this to as many people as he could. I thought to myself this guys is doing more harm then good. I’m sure we’ve all had a face to face encounter with a “Hell Fire/Sign Guy Street Preacher.”
Sign Guys come in all shapes and sizes. Their message mainly consists of judgments, insults and condemnation–with no clear explanation of the gospel. We call it a “condemnation without cause message.” (thanks to Steve at stonethepreacher.com, he was a big help in me understanding more about this issue) This is a problem because unbelievers who walk by have no idea why they should stop sinning, why God will judge them in Hell, and why Jesus died for them.
Evangie crew, as well a few people we witnessed to on Mill Avenue
When you were a child, you didn’t necessarily need that talk from your Mother or your kindergarten teacher about “lieing is bad,” did you? Your heart/conscience already told you it was wrong. It just didn’t feel right. You didn’t need government authorities to tell you you couldn’t end someones life because you got upset or angry. However, at some point in our life( usually early on) we find a hole in the system. We realize we can do something that requires punishment and get away with it. You do not need a preacher or Christian to tell you the difference between right or wrong but perhaps you may need a reminder of God’s perfect standard. Our sin will find us out; don’t hide your sin from God. he is all knowing. Confess it to him, turn from that sin and allow Him to cleanse you. Be encouraged, while you were yet a sinner, Jesus Christ willingly laid his life down for you.
Jonathan shares testimony, with marijuana prop
Jonathan began the night preaching on Mill Avenue, with an interesting prop. While Jonathan told his testimony via mic, he held in his hand what looked like a 2
Here’s what most people don’t get: It’s actually a diss to call Jesus a “good teacher.” It’s kind of like calling the Pacific Ocean a “puddle.” Or saying Mount Everest is “a hill.” Or saying that the sun is “warm.”
Jesus was no doubt an incredible teacher in addition to his unparalleled diversity of perfections as the ultimate prophet, priest, and king. However, to simply view Jesus as a good teacher is to misrepresent him. He is the eternal son of God who became a man to reveal the ultimate glory (importance and weightiness) of God to His own creation, and to destroy Satan, Sin, and Death without destroying us. When Jesus taught, people didn’t just think He was a good teacher, they were absolutely astonished. They marveled at Him. When Jesus taught, thousands of people crowded around Him, straining to hear and see Him. He wasn’t just smart and funny; he was perfect.
If ever there was a celebrity, it was Jesus. That is not to say everyone agreed with Him- He confronted and/or offended just about everyone who heard Him. He ticked off every single political group of His day. He undermined the authority of the doctrinaire religious leaders and exposed the hypocrisy of the wealthy elite. He made the religious experts look like fools. He won the hearts of the poor and the disenfranchised. He healed the sick and defended the weak. He demonstrated His divinity and supernatural powers by many great miracles, culminating in the resurrection that proved He was both Lord and Christ.
Jesus was “the talk of the town.” He would have been on all the tabloids, Oprah, Maury, The Daly Show, The Today Show, Larry King, Meet the Press, etc. When people saw the miracles that Jesus performed and believed in Him, they were never the same again. How could they be? He was the promised messiah, the fulfillment of Torah in human form. People longed to be like Jesus, because His righteousness was qualitatively superior to all. He caused people to thirst for righteousness in ways that all the patriarchs and prophets could not. As image bearers of God, we hate injustice and iniquity, yet it scandalizes us when we detect it within our hearts. To be cleansed by our maker Himself is the only vindication that ultimately matters. Only Jesus can give us that desire to be sanctified through the Holy Spirit. Only Jesus earned the right to redeem us to Himself. He has washed us with his blood.
Jesus demands that you worship Him. Responding to Jesus with anything less than extravagant worship is proof that you don’t get it and you still think He’s just a “good teacher.”
On Friday we decided to relocate from our standard Urban Outfitters corner and move a bit North toward the lake. We set up shop near Rula Bula at the clock tower. We felt like we had a lot of fire and zeal tonight but perhaps it was just the redbull, rockstar and monster pumping through our veins!
In themidst of Walter preaching, one of our atheist friends from the secular free thought society, became so angry to the point of cursing Walter out. As they begin discussing Science, DNA, etc., she called Walter ignorant, unaware that he is a nurse and entirely studied up on the topic of her choice. Props to Walter for remaining calm and responding with clarity and love. It is on the urbanevangelism youtube if you’d like to see, but warning the language is foul. Walter also spoke a lot about our need for a savior, describing that we ought to “put up a help wanted sign for Jesus!”It was both clever and biblical , check out the video:)
David was able to have a fairly long conversation with an agnostic named Ryan. Ryan was very open to the gospel and David had a chance to pray for him. At the same time Mia was speaking with Linda who was a friend of Ryan’s. Linda described that she had been clean from drugs for 2 weeks and was focused on staying clean. Mia was able to share the gospel with her and speak about her personal experience regarding deliverance. Just as David was finishing up praying over Ryan, Mia and Linda began praying and Ryan actually went over and prayed with them! (more…)
Here is a one to one interview with a ghostbuster on Halloween eve. Aside from the costume this is a pretty standard one to one conversation. You can receive tips and listen to training videos on effective ways to have conversations on Kirk Cameron’s way of the master website. You can also obtain gospel tracks and other effective evangelism tools.
I was looking for some festivals we could witness at and I came across one that was called “Ostrich Festival,” in chandler. “Ostriches!!! Coooool,” I thought, picturing a parade of floats with live ostriches and new born ostrich babies. Apparently I should have continued to read the rest of the website because the closest thing they had at the festival to an ostrich was a candy ostrich egg. I guess it was just “in honor,” and to raise money for ostriches. Needless to say the event was a fun filled family event with about 700+ people.
I was amazed to see the last float featured in the parade was “The Door,” church. They held up signs witchdisplayed scripture and some catchy biblical messages. They preached the gospel via amplification as well. As soon as their float cleared out Jonathan got up on the mic as well. Assuming it was still part of the show, some people stuck around to listen. Missy and I were also able to distribute about 500 tracks. We made great use of our Spanish tracts as there were several Spanish speaking families. It was cool witnessing to a much different demographic of people then Mill avenue and ASU. Peoples minds in the least seemed to be provoked by the message we brought to them.
Little did we know that in the midst of our preaching our car was getting broken into, and my credit card and ID was getting stolen. Apparently someone didn’t like our message! Haha jk!  I quickly canceled my credit card before the person who didn’t like our message spent all my money and then some! Check out the video featuring Jonathan’s message to the parade goers.
Scotty and Jonathan showed up to Joe’s BBQ on the day the restaurant was giving out free promotional meals. They expected to have a quiet afternoon with a couple of full bellys. However, when they saw the crowd of 500+ people, they decided it could potentially serve as  a great opportunity to preach. Luckily they had all the amplification, equipment, and tracts in the car. Evangelism tip # 76, always be prepared to preach no matter what you think your day will entail! The town of Gilbert wasn’t quite use to the whole mega phone gig; but luckily that worked in the teams favor. The audience was attentive, and let Jonathan deliver the gospel in its entirety. Oh, and after preaching the guys were still able to feast on some free food and managed to meet  Joe himself! Check out the video!
In late March of 09, Mia Korecky decided to step into evangelism on Mill Avenue. A bit fearful, she first decided to observe from the side and perhaps hand out a track or two. However, it seemed at though the Lord had other plans for Mia. She quickly got over her fear, and began talking with people. I think she talked to more people then then entire team combined together that night. Once she stepped out in faith God really blessed her conversations and she left feeling encouraged and ready to preach some more!!!
That same night we met Walter Benatti  for the first time. ( A local Christian who had been looking for some co-laborers to preach with). We also met with some gospel rappers from Roosevelt Community, Grace Bible and a few other local churches. We had a crowd of about 30 people to watch the guys freestyle rap the gospel.We also had Vocab Malone debate the atheist group; with a fairly large group of people.All in all, a pretty stellar night! Check out the video!
With all the rage and attention the mic was getting, Missy and I decided it was time to get over our fears, step out in faith and bring the Hell -Fire! We decided to go out for a trial and error run on a Sunday  night…just in case we said anything blasphemous, haha! We assumed no one would be out since it was a Sunday evening. As we both preached a few times open air, it seemed just as we expected.  However, we later found out that a gentleman was listened to us from the balcony of Hooters. He felt convicted after hearing our message and ended up leaving Hooters.
Thanks for checking us out! urbanevangie is a group of Christians from the Tempe/Phoenix/Scottsdale area. We evangelize unbelieving Arizonians in order that they may to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and connect them to a local church. Leave a comment and let us know you stopped by!
NEWS: TEMPE Church Plant
Visit the site and join us for worship Sunday Nights @ 6PMTEMPE LIFE CHURCH http://www.tempelifechurch.com/
“Be wise now, therefore, O ye who would succeed in declaring your Master's message among the multitude, and use your voices as common sense would dictate.”
