Operation 513: Journal of a Journey

[Willo]

From now on all my regular evangelism updates will be posted here

- Josh

[Willo]

Tuesday - June 2nd, 2009

It begins! Last week I finally completed all my classes for my Bachelor of Ministry, but upon completing college I had to face the question of ?now what?? After, spending some time in prayer and seeking advice I decided that I would commit myself to full time evangelistic ministry, both here in Australia and internationally as God provides. This decision was made easier by the fact that I am now working two days a week with Evangelist Bill Newman at his ministry Bill Newman Ministries (http://www.billnewman.org.au). Being able to work with Bill has been great, as I get to learn more about evangelistic ministry and I also get paid for it. But, most of all this line of employment allows me to focus on reaching out to the lost on a full time basis.

Since, I now have more time to devout to outreach, I thought it to be a good idea to spend more time on Queensland?s largest university, just handing out tracts and having one to one conversations with the students. So, today Ryan and I both made our way to the campus with a certainly level of excitement, but also with an amount of concern as it had been raining all morning and it looked like it was about to rain again. Ryan assured me that there still would be plenty of people to witness to even if it was pouring with rain.

Upon arrival we immediately began to hand out to all the students we walked past, this resulted in many people sitting around reading the gospel of Jesus Christ. It didn?t take long for Ryan to engage in a one to one conversation with a young Jewish man who was trying to disprove Jesus, by stating that He couldn?t have been crucified with nails in His hands, and that Jesus was black. Ryan, stayed on course and presented the Christ who is able to save that man from his sin.

By now the heavens had opened up and the rain was pouring down (although Ryan kept saying ?look blue sky!?) So we made our way to an undercover area near where all the students buy their lunch. As we walked into the undercover area we were approached by a student from the socialist alliance, he handed us a flyer which was advertising an upcoming rally on global warming. As he gave me the flyer, I thought, this guy would be interesting to talk to.

At this stage Ryan was sitting down engaging a Muslim man in discussion so I walked up to the socialist student and asked him for an interview. He quickly agreed so I proceeded to talk to him for some time. His name is Ewan and he was very pro-environment and very anti-Christianity. For some twenty minutes we discussed different things and I found it very hard to swing to the gospel with him, as every time I did he would try to rabbit-trail. However by the end of our discussion I was able to present Christ to him.

I noticed that Ryan was still engaged in discussion with the Muslim, so I looked for someone else to talk to. A few people I approached were in a rush to get to class, so I gave them a tract and they continued on their way. Eventually I ran into Ali, who is a business student from Pakistan, his religion is Islam, however, he said he is not a radical. I spoke to him for about twelve minutes and I stressed to him how as a Christian I have assurance of salvation. At the end of the conversation I pleaded with him to trust in Christ alone to save him, as his good works will never been good enough to get him to heaven.

It was now lunch time, so Ryan went to grab some lunch while I spoke to a young adult from my church (http://www.beenleighbaptist.org). After Ryan finished eating he jumped into a conversation with two young students. From all accounts it went very well with them both acknowledging that they needed the Saviour and saying they were prepared to lay it all down for Jesus.

After this we began to make our way out of the campus, however, Ryan managed to get himself into a conversation with a group of students. The group loved the discussion and they were pulling phones out and calling friends encouraging them to come listen to Ryan. By the end Ryan was talking to a large group of students about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During this time I was handing out tracts, and I managed to get a one to one with Richard, who believed himself to be good enough for Heaven. So I quizzed him on this point and the moment he realized his sin he turned and ran away. I was disappointed I couldn?t present Christ to him, but I rest in the fact that God is Sovereign and He will allow Richard to hear the good news of sins being forgiven.

The day overall was brilliant. There is a great need to evangelise the university so I am keen to put one day a week in on UQ campus, and it is my prayer that God will save His people. I would ask that you keep me in prayer as I evangelise in a full time capacity and also pray for Operation 513 as we expand and reach more people for Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria!

To hear the witnessing encounters with Ewan the Socialist and Ali the Muslim visit: http://www.evangelismmatters.blogspot.com

Also, visit our website: http://www.Operation513.com

[Willo]

Saturday - 6th June, 2009 - Gold Coast

150 years ago the State of Queensland was officially established, before that time it had been under the administration from the colony of New South Wales. Throughout the state today there were many celebrations and the weather for these celebrations was ideal. It was a beautiful sunny day with clear skies and mild temperature. While people in the state celebrated we made our way down to Surfers Paradise for our weekly outreach.

We arrived at lunch time, so we quickly ate a meal, spent some time in prayer and Bible reading then we began to witness for Christ. Many tracts were going out and many people were interested in talking to us. Ryan as usual was locked in a one to one conversation with an elderly gentleman, while Blake and Joel handed out tracts to the many people walking along the beach front.

I was to be the first preacher up for the day. Personally I don?t like being the first preacher, but sometimes it has to be done. So as I began to prepare I realized that I couldn?t think of what to preach on. Now, I knew that it would be a gospel message, but how was I to start? As I thought about the message I was about to give I remember a conversation I had a few days earlier with a friend about slavery, this was to be my starting point. Physical slavery in the world today and also spiritual slavery in the world.

I used John 8 as my text and pointed out that Jesus said we are all enslaved to sin when we commit sin. A few people gathered around to listen, but for the Gold Coast it was a really small crowd. But, God is glorified when His word goes forth, so I took heart and continued to preach about Christ and how He came in love to save a people unto Himself. The message went for about twenty minutes and afterwards there were many great conversations with people in regards to the gospel. One Christian gentleman came up to me and offered words of encouragement, then also stressed that we need to do an appeal for physical healing. I thanked him for his words, but would not issue a call for healing.

Blake was the next preacher up and shortly after beginning a man walked past screaming abuse. The man wasn?t like every other pedestrians, they all walked on the footpath, this man walked on the road with the traffic. We ignored him and Blake kept on preaching. None of us really thought much about this man, but in a few minutes he had our full attention.

For a second my attention was away from the preacher and when I looked back at Blake preaching I saw the same yelling man standing next to him. This time the man did more than just yell, he began to punch and attack Blake. Immediately I yelled for the man to back off and I advanced towards him. The man did as I expected and he ran away. This however was not the end.

I turned and put my backpack on the ground and as I turned again the man was once again approaching. This time he was yelling, ?I am going to break your neck!? He was anger, his eyes full of hatred. He came charging in, so I told Blake to keep preaching. I lined up the man as he came running in, my job was to make sure he brought no harm to the preacher. The man began to dance around me yelling he was going to take me out, I called for Ryan to run and get police. Jaime was now also involved, he was apart of the blocking team. The violent man was now entangled with Jaime, so I began to preach to the crowd about how as Christians we are to love our enemies as Christ loved those who He came to save. People listened and they saw the difference between light and darkness.

As I preached the man screamed more and made more threats. He then came running up beside me and started to throw punches at my head. I was able to block all his punches and continue to preach. All up he threw around 10 - 15 punches, and by God?s grace I was able to stop them all. It would have been easy to get angry and fight back, but all I felt for the man was sorrow. Then we heard a sound approaching that made the heckler turn and flee. That sound was the wail of sirens as a patrol car sped to the incident. The police pulled up with lights flashing and then took off after the man who had attacked us. We later found out that the police actually lost him and couldn?t find the man. However, they kept an eye on us for the rest of the day. As they drove by or walked past they would give a friendly wave and keep on going. This is a marked difference from just a few months ago when they were trying to arrest us for preaching.

After this Ryan preached and so did Joel. Many people were interested in talking and we were able to have many great conversations. People seemed grateful to hear the good news, and many wanted more information. I have found that whenever the enemy advances God moves in a mightier way.

To God be the Glory!


Saturday, 6th June, 2009 - Brisbane

The sound of a car whizzing by brought me back to my senses. I was in Brisbane city and during the prayer meeting I found myself starting to fall asleep. My body was overcome with tiredness. It had been a big day. Preaching twice on the Gold Coast, engaging in blocking punches being thrown by a heckler had all taken its toll. But, the night was young, one battle finished another just about to begin.

After we prayed for awhile and then read the Bible together, we made our way to the Queen Street Mall. Part of me was looking forward to preaching, another part would have loved the night off. We set up and Ryan began the night by preaching. He had been preaching for a few minutes when the heavens opened up and it began to rain. We quickly scrambled to pack down the Bible table and also we placed a tarp over the team bags so that there would be no damage.

Ryan kept preaching, even though it was raining. One of our regular hecklers (Wayne) brought in his family tonight. It must have been a good family night out as they seemed to enjoy heckling Ryan as he preached.

While this was all going on I noticed one young man walk past who we have dealt with in the past. This man is a professing Christian, however, he is now back on drugs and is making many threats to females, including females in the Brisbane team. I approached him to speak to him and straight away I saw that he was off his face. He began to ramble about how he had just beaten up his father, mother and little brother. Since I have dealt with him in the past I tried to help him. But he wasn?t interested. A bit later on he returned and the team was able to buy him a meal and minister to him.

In the past I have spoken to his pastor about him, and I gave his pastor my word that if he comes to the team I will tell him to leave before calling the police. Tonight we let him stay with us as long as he behaved. However, his good behaviour didn?t last long. While I was witnessing to young lady who had been listening to Ryan preach, this guy walked in and abused her. He also threatened rape and physical violence. This young lady ran away and I was not happy. I order him to leave or I would call the police. The man left, only to return later on.

Later in the evening I noticed that he had returned so I approached him and once again told him to leave or I would be forced to call police. He refused to leave, so I asked him again. This time he got up to leave and as he did he put his cigarette out on my chest. This resulted in Queensland Police being called. The man ran when police arrived and after a short chase involving about twenty police they caught him and placed him in lock up.

It is so sad to see this guy back on the drugs and it was hard for me to call the police on him. But hopefully he will learn that there must be a punishment for his crime and also that Christ can forgive whatever crime has been committed against God.

During this time there was quite a large crowd listening to Ryan preach and for the whole night the preacher had a crowd listening to the gospel. Ryan started to preach at 9:15pm and at 11:45pm he finally stood down. After that there were plenty of one to one conversations.

The night was hard, but many people heard the gospel. May God save sinners in this city!
Soli Deo Gloria!

To hear an audio of the Open Air preaching visit: http://evangelismmatters.blogspot.com/2 ... -your.html

Full report with pictures: http://www.operation513.com

For other Operation 513 team reports visit: http://www.operation513.com/battlelog.php

[John81]

Congratulations on completing your classes!

It's great you are able to reach out to the lost like this. Taking the Word to those who may not step into a church or listen to Christian radio or TV is something we need more of.

[Willo]

Saturday - June 26th, 2009

I was in a great mood tonight as I made my way to the city. This was due to several reasons, first, that morning I was at a young evangelist conference, it is always great to be with other like-minded Christians. Second, I had the privilege of making known the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to all those who would listen.

Those things combined made me excited about the night. Also, the preaching tonight would all be focused around the one thing that had shaken the world, and that was the unexpected death of the pop superstar Michael Jackson, now while I am not a fan of his music, I myself was shocked at his death, it caught me unaware. My first thoughts upon hearing of his death was

[John81]

Praise God! How wonderful is the Word going forth!

[Willo]

The past month has been incredibly busy for me in the ministry and also added to the fact I got engaged to the world

[Willo]

Sorry about the delay in writing the evangelism reports. Things have been very busy of late. Feel free to check out the latest reports: http://evangelismmatters.blogspot.com/2009/08/operation-513-august-reports-for.html

[Willo]

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

As I walked into the city I noticed that many of the walkways were free from pedestrians, and it seemed that there was a hush over Brisbane. There wasn

[Willo]

Saturday, 5th December 2009 - Brisbane

The air was dripping with the sounds of Christmas, everywhere you turned you could see decorations, trees and festive lights. Playing throughout the Queen Street mall, were Christmas songs of every description. It was plain to all those present that the holidays were here. As Louise and I walked towards King George Square we happened to pass under a seasonal walkway with the words

[Willo]

Saturday, 12th December 2009 - Brisbane

The shrill blast of a whistle drew the attention of not just Louise and I, but of everyone in King George Square. As we looked for where the whistle was coming from a new noise reached our ears, this time it was the deep rhythmic beat of a drum. Still the multitudes of people in the square were none the wiser as to where the noise had originated. Then a new sound was added to the din, this time it was the cry of a female voice calling out

[Willo]

Saturday, 19th December 2009 - Brisbane

[Willo]

G'day All!

I have had a few messages from people asking why my reports of the weekly evangelistic outreaches have been slow in coming. Well, let me start off by assuring you that I am still out weekly preaching the gospel in the open air, but of late another ministry has come along.

As of Feb. 2010, I have been employed to plant an evangelistic church plant in Brisbane. This ministry has taken much time and effort. I would ask that you please keep me in prayer as I minister as pastor of this church.

You can visit our church website at: http://www.sgbaptist.org.au there you will be able to download sermons and read our blog.

Thanks for your prayer

Josh Williamson

[Willo]

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