The Need for the Gospel
In November I went to Portland as part of an evangelism team. Our goals were to spend a handful of days on the streets sharing the gospel, letting the people of Portland know we were planning to plant a church there, and hosting our first gathering. This experience was altogether new to me. I hadn’t street evangelized before, nor been part of an evangelism trip, so I didn’t know what all to expect. Prior to being asked to be part of this team, I had very little knowledge of Portland outside of what media sources choose to report. So my view of the city, the people, and the culture were skewed to say the least. There was a little bit of culture shock for me when we first got there, but I didn’t get too hung up on it. Before we left I had prayed for God to let me see the people of Portland how He sees them, and keeping that in my heart and mind helped me stay focused on why we were there.
One of my daily prayers has been for the people of Portland. Specifically, my prayer is for the Lord to get the people of Portland to a place where they know they need a savior, and where they would be open to hear the gospel message. Early, on our first day street evangelizing, one of our groups shared the gospel with a guy, and he got saved! The same day I had the privilege of meeting a young man. We had a really good spiritual conversation about Jesus, God, the Bible, and got to help answer some questions that he had. I even got to share the gospel with him! He is a really cool dude, and very smart, and I believe his interest is genuine. I hope he continues to seek answers as I am continuing to pray for his salvation.
Over the next couple of days we probably had hundreds of conversations, including plenty of rejections, but having a fruitful first day helped keep me encouraged throughout the remainder of the trip. The people that we spoke with were mostly polite and willing to talk with us. A lot of them liked the idea that we wanted to plant a church in Portland, but were uninterested in hearing the gospel. That’s ok because God desires us to be obedient first, and trust that He will work out the details.
Every night we would regroup in the lobby of our hotel for a Bible study. After a long day of spiritual battles and physical wear, it was good to get a chance to come together and refuel. Walking through Acts 13 and 14, Paul’s first missionary journey, helped me gain a biblical view on what missions really looks like.
Our first gathering was really cool as we were able to host it out of a small conference room in the hotel we were staying at. Two of the guys we had talked to had come out to see what we were all about. We spent some time worshipping through songs, shared a little about ourselves, and shared with our guests some truth from God’s word how He is directing our plans with Project Portland. It was for me a precious moment to be part of this first gathering. One of our guests even decided to hang out with us for the rest of the trip! We got to learn more about him, he got to evangelize with us, and the last night we were there he gave his heart to the Lord!
God has grown me a lot through this trip. He showed me what being in a mission field really is like. He taught me to trust more in Him, and to remain obedient to His will. He showed me the need to get the gospel to the people of Portland. I pray that God will continue to work in the lives of the people of this city, and strengthen those who are surrendering their lives in order to reach them.
