Worship in the Mall

While I was out Friday night, I went wandering down the Mall, and there was a group doing a sort of open air meeting. Singing and preaching were a part of it all. I stopped and worshipped for a while. It was great, that these guys were willing to stand in the mall and worship, it was cool that they preached the Word. Even though not many people were paying attention it was great, to see that there are some parts of the Church getting out there, trying to spread the Word. At other times there have been preaching in the Mall, however these guys were different. These guys were from a church in the inner suburbs, the people that I have seen before are from a number of different churches, but come together for this. The group that I have seen before, is a group known as the Way of the Master, this group preaches, but mainly in a legalistic type of way… “you are a sinner and you are going to hell”. Where as the group that I saw tonight were more filled with joy, and was sharing about God’s love, that the way to God is through Christ alone, that Christ is the answer…
You can probably see in the way that I have written which I prefer, I know that there is a place for both, that some people will respond better to one way more than another. But I can’t help thinking that it is better sharing love and life, than convicting people of their sins…. Isn’t that suppose to be the Holy Spirit’s job…

On my way home Friday Night, I was almost punched a couple of times by someone… and also this person also threatened to kill me, if she had a knife or a glass bottle, I really think that she would of tried… I praise God, for his protection, cause she couldn’t hit me…
Even though I would have had another great story…. ;-p Don't get me wrong, i do get scared at these times. (it is the second time in 2 and a half years, that this has happened, the other time i was actually hit).. but at the same time i can see the hurt in that person... And i know i can fight. i can hold my ground (just ask some people that know me), however in times like this i have felt incapable of fighting, not that i wanted to fight. Cause i know that me fighting back, even to defend myself, it doesn't grow the kingdom...
I also know that it wasn't just this person wanting to get at me... the enemy wanted to scare me, cause i am getting out on the street more, and praying around the streets more. And the enemy thinks he can scare me so that i won't want to go out on the streets and be an influence for God on the streets of Adelaide. I declare here and now that it won't work, cause Christ wants me out on the streets, and He is my strength, my sheild and my fortress, and i praise Him for that.

Lux

A National Network....

Tonight I went down to the soup run as usual, and caught up with a few of the guys I know… I also met someone else there… and it is an indication of how small Australia is in some ways, at least how easy it is for people to get around. The person that I met, D, hasn’t been in Adelaide very long, before that she was in Sydney, and was of the Oasis program, or at least had regular contact with them.
A while back I was thinking that we need to make better contact with 614 Melbourne, cause we see a lot of people that go between here and Melbourne, and it would be good to refer people that we know heading across there, to somewhere, where they will continue to have contact with people who want to see them saved and growing. With thinking about that, I also thought it would be great having some thing similar in the Alice (Alice Springs) and Darwin, cause I also see a lot of people travel between here and there.
Meeting D, made me think that we should have a nation wide network, so that where ever people that we have been working with are moving on somewhere else, there is someone that we can refer them to, who will continue building them up.
In theory we already have this network, being the Salvation Army, we have corps all across the World, that alone Australia, so we should be able to link people in different corps when they move. However it doesn’t happen… Why…