|
Four-City
Truth Blitz
A
Marvelous Ministry in Monroe
And
They Call This a Christian Event!
Back
to the Farmers' Market
Encouragement
from Brussels
Planned
Parenthood Ministry
Internet
Ministry
Lit
Distribution Summary
PCC
Public Ministry Update
May 21—July 19, 2006
"We
having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written,
I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore
speak."
—2 Corinthians 4:13
Dear
Friends,
Here
is a summary of the public ministry efforts of PCC since our last
newsletter. I have chosen to forgo a letter this time around and simply
say thank you to all who support this ministry work.
Pastor
Ralph Ovadal
 |
|
Two of our truth blitzers. |
Four-City
Truth Blitz
"Wherefore
take unto you the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done
all, to stand."
—Ephesians 6:13
On
Saturday, June 10, PCC visited Delavan, Muskego,
New Berlin, and Waukesha.
We set up a witness at a
busy intersection in each city. We used signs with a biblical message
about marriage, other signs which dealt with homosexuality, and Scripture
signs with a gospel message. We also handed out our tract What
the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality.
This sort of ministry is always timely, but especially in light of the
approaching vote on a marriage
amendment
to our state constitution.
Back to top.
A
Marvelous Ministry in
Monroe
"This
is the Lord's
doing, it is marvellous in our eyes."—Psalm
118:23
The
city of Monroe
hosted the World Honda
Grand Prix Balloon Race the weekend of June 16-18. As in other years, PCC
undertook an open-air witness at that event. We set up our gospel signs on
the square where a smaller than usual crowd still accepted hundreds of
gospel tracts from us and read the Scripture signs. Although there were
those who expressed their contempt and hatred for us and our witness, we
also received more encouragement than ever from professing Christians.
Several even asked for extra tracts from us that they could distribute!
And, as always, the Lord richly blessed our efforts to share the gospel. I
will relate just two of many incidents that caused us to praise the Lord.
Early
on in our ministry, we saw a young, red-haired woman who was immodestly
dressed. She had a very troubled look on her face, but disappeared into
the crowd without a gospel tract. I felt bad that the young lady had not,
due to circumstance, been offered a tract. I did hope that she had at
least read our Scripture sign. Several hours later, a hard, bitter older
woman took a gospel tract from me, it turned out, for the sole purpose of
mocking us before she threw the tract down on the sidewalk. The tract had
barely hit the cement when the young lady with the red hair stepped out of
the passing crowd, scooped it up, and hurried off with it, reading as she
went! This was the Holy Ghost at work, and it was marvelous in our eyes!
 |
|
One corner of our
intersection
witness during the balloon rally. |
In
another instance, I handed a gospel tract to an older man who looked like
a real hard case. He accepted the tract and then read aloud the title, "How
Long Have I to Live?"
Next he stated to me, "That's a good question. I have recently had
two heart attacks, and a blood clot in my brain almost killed me. That's a
good question—How long have I to live?" I agreed with him and said,
"The most important thing is what will happen to us after we
die." I then had a short witness with the man, who left promising
that he would absolutely read the gospel tract. This again was our
Sovereign God at work, and what a blessing it was for us.
On
the same day as our gospel witness on the square, we set up our biblical
signs on marriage and homosexuality at a busy intersection in Monroe
. We noted car license
plates from many different states. What a blessing it was to share truth
which will in turn have an effect in so many far-flung regions.
Back to top.
And
They Call This a Christian Event!
"Beloved,
when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it
was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."
—Jude 1:3
On
July 4, a small group of us from Pilgrims
Covenant Church
traveled to
Bushnell, Illinois. Our objective
was to stand in "defence of the gospel" and "earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." We
undertook our mission with a burning zeal to stand for the holiness and
glory of God at an event which grievously dishonors Him and does violence
to the souls of thousands of young people. That event is the huge
Cornerstone Festival held every year on a 575-acre property owned by the
"Jesus People USA."
The
event is not only supposed to be a Christian one but also a witness for
Christ among those non-Christians who might be on-hand. In reality, it is
an ungodly, worldly carnival with hard rock, including "death
metal" rock, as its main feature. There is much I could share about
the event. Activities this year included a special "Days of the
Dead" film festival featuring such movies as The
Body Snatcher. Cornerstone also has a labyrinth and other such
paganistic religious activities.
On
July 4, we spent six hours along the driveway leading up to Cornerstone's
main gate. We handed out hundreds of the flyer
included with this mailing and held three large signs. The signs were
arrayed in the following order on the drive for all incoming
festival-goers to see: "Cornerstone dishonors God"; "Love
not the world, 1 John 2:15"; "Worship the Lord
in the beauty of holiness, Psalm 29:2."
During
the course of our time at Cornerstone, "Christian" young people
from around the nation and from many foreign countries mocked us, threw
things at us, made obscene gestures, and in several instances, mockingly
ate our literature! One carload of youngsters made a special sign to
display to us which read, "First stop Cornerstone. Next stop
hell." Another car, filled with young women, had "Caution: Hot
Babes on Board" written on its windshield. One truck arriving at the
festival—more accurately, the carnival—featured three young women in
skimpy bikinis lying on a mattress in the truck box.
 |
We
had not been set up long on the Cornerstone drive before young people
swarmed out of the event to confront and debate us. We spent the rest of
the day surrounded by animated young people, including long-haired young
men with multiple piercings and covered with
tattoos. Some of these "Christian brothers" were even wearing
what they call "girl pants." The young ladies certainly did not
all dress or act like ladies. A general contempt for authority and a lack
of respect for elders was the rule of the day. All demanded to know how we
could dare to state that Cornerstone dishonors God.
 |
The
common thread that was woven throughout the young people's defense of
Cornerstone was the insistence that preaching the gospel and handing out
gospel tracts are "not effective" in this day and age,
especially with young people. In defense of their screaming, Mick-Jagger-wanna-be
rock heroes, the Cornerstone crowd insisted that so long as one is using
his God-given talents, he is honoring God no matter how he uses those
talents. One young woman said she could honor God by just lying in the
road, so long as she felt it is honoring to God. Another common
denominator was a contempt for Christian
fundamentalism. I had one pastor-in-training call me a "right-wing,
conservative fascist." Another common trait which the young people,
and the few older people in the ranks, shared was an antinomian philosophy
and an utter ignorance of the Scriptures. Speaking for myself, I did not
hear more than three or four Scriptures quoted by the Cornerstone kids
during the entire six hours we were on site, even though I repeatedly used
Scripture and challenged them to justify their positions the same way.
When the young people did "quote" Scripture, they said such
things as: "The Bible says, 'Be
conformed to the world,'" and "Paul said, 'When in Rome
do as the Romans do.'"
When I asked one young man who had been to seminary to give me just two
verses from anywhere in God's Word, after long and painful thought, he
could only come up with one: "Jesus wept."
 |
One
older, long-time Cornerstone-goer who was livid with anger at me, kept
half shouting, "You are a legalist. We are no longer under the
law." This man insisted that in order to effectively
"reach" unbelievers, Christians must blend in with the culture,
even if the locals go nude! The sad thing is, several scantily clad young
girls with him were also in agreement and mocked me when I refuted his
ignorant, arrogant drivel.
Another
thing which we noticed among the festival-goers was their rejection of
immutable truth. For instance, one young man told us there is nothing
wrong with the "f word" since it could mean different things to
different people! And yes, all of these young people claimed to be
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such is the evil fruit of a
neo-evangelical, CCM, seeker-sensitive, purpose-driven,
modern-Bible-translation culture.
 |
I
would encourage you to listen to my July
7th "Heart of the Matter" commentary
on Cornerstone. There is simply too much to tell in this short space. But
I do want to let you know that the Lord worked powerfully during our time
at Cornerstone. We did see some young people become convicted, especially
by the persuasion of preaching, that something is wrong at Cornerstone. In
one case, an especially arrogant, nasty young man suddenly responded to my
preaching by getting tears in his eyes and saying, "I am in so much
trouble." I was able to spend some time in one-on-one witness with
him. We also saw that some of the more "conservative" young
people were troubled when the hearts of their friends were revealed. We
had very good conversations with those individuals. We had an older man
from the area stop to thank us for our witness, and we were interviewed by
a CCM magazine and a documentary film crew. We trust the Lord used, and
will continue to use, our six hours of truth-telling in ways we may never
even hear about. Lord willing, we will be back at the Cornerstone carnival
next year to minister to the children of neo-evangelicalism.
Back to top.
 |
Back
to the Farmers' Market
"But
as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we
speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth
our hearts."
—1 Thessalonians 2:4
 |
Pilgrims Covenant
Church presented
the gospel at the farmers' market on the capitol square in Madison
once again on July 15. We
communicated the gospel with Scripture
signs
set up in three locations. We also had several teams handing out gospel
tracts
and a team of men preaching. Temperatures edging up toward 100° kept the
crowd down somewhat. But in spite of previous ministry at the farmers'
market and in spite of the temperature, we still handed out over 1,200
gospel tracts. More than any other time at the market, we were given
encouraging words by Christians shopping there. Of course, we also met the
usual mockers, including two lesbians who smugly sneered, "Don't get
violent." When I responded that it is the sodomites who are violent
and shared some of the violence they have directed at us, the response was
"Good!"
 |
 |
I
also had the opportunity to confront a Roman Catholic priest and preach to
him in front of the crowd. The exchange began when he walked up while I
was preaching. I stopped and asked him if he was going to heaven. His
response was exactly what I knew it would be: "I hope so." What
a wonderful thing to have an opportunity to reprove the unfruitful works
of Romanism and preach the one way of salvation. God blessed us in many
other ways as well. One sister who joined with us had been praying to have
a chance to witness to her niece. Lo and behold, as she was handing out
gospel tracts, along came her niece and her
boyfriend. Our sister in the Lord was able to give them tracts and spend
some time witnessing of Christ. All in all, we left for home from Madison
with joyful hearts, knowing
that with our preaching, tracts, and signs, thousands were given the
gospel. Back to top.
Encouragement
from Brussels
PCC
provides our tracts on homosexuality, along with our marriage
amendment flyers,
free to Christians willing to distribute them in Wisconsin. A little over
a month ago, a pastor from Brussels called
and asked for 1,000 Homosexuality:
The Truth
brochures and 1,000 What
the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality
brochures to hand out at various parades in his area
this summer. As I was writing this newsletter, that same brother from
northeastern Wisconsin called
to report that his church had distributed all the flyers and would like 2,000
more of each
brochure! Praise God for this bold pastor and his flock. What a great
encouragement to know they are spreading so much truth and light in their
area. PCC is planning on doing a rural route mailing to that same area
which will get that much more truth out there and be a great encouragement
to a faithful pastor and his courageous flock! Back
to top.
Planned
Parenthood Ministry
Members
of PCC maintain a weekly ministry at two Planned Parenthood clinics, one
in the Milwaukee area
and one in Monroe. One of our members also maintains an abortion clinic
ministry in another city. At the Monroe PP, young people park in a lot in
the back. As they drive in, they see gospel messages on the back of a car
which we park by that entrance. When they get out of their cars, Mike Foht
offers gospel tracts and preaches to them. Then as they make the long walk
up the side of the building to the entrance, I preach to them. We do the
same thing in reverse when the young people head for their cars. Then, as
they pull up to the exit of PP, they see gospel messages and a picture of
a preborn child which we have on the side of the car mentioned. We also
have gospel signs and signs with messages about PP held by other PCC
members along the road in front of Planned Parenthood.
Back to top.
Internet
Ministry
"The
Heart of the Matter" program (http://www.theheartofthematteronline.com/)
continues to do well, and we trust does well for the kingdom
of God. Our PCC web site (http://www.pccmonroe.org/)
has also been a great tool to communicate truth. Since every piece of
material we hand out has our web site address, we receive many visits
every week from around the world. Those visits only increase during times
of controversy, as when Romanists such as Catholic
Answers Karl Keating
recently took issue with my "Romanizing
America through Illegal Immigration"
article. We feel blessed to have so many different ways to share biblical
truth. Back to top.
Lit
Distribution Summary
May 21—July 19, 2006
Unless
noted, all brochures used were either Homosexuality:
The Truth
or What
the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality,
along with our marriage flyer.
PCC
lit dropped homes in the following towns:
Avalon, Baraboo,
Belmont,
Beloit,
Clinton, Fontana,
Fort
Atkinson,
Germantown, Janesville,
Jefferson,
Johnson Creek,
Kenosha,
Mukwonago, Oconomowoc,
Pewaukee, Plymouth,
Port Washington,
Sharon, Walworth,
and Wisconsin Dells.
PCC
distributed brochures at the following schools:
Greenfield High
School, Jefferson High
School, Plymouth High
School, and West Allis
High School.
PCC
provided thousands of pieces of free literature for distribution by others
in:
Brussels, Kewaskum,
Milwaukee, Mt.
Horeb, and Wisconsin Rapids,
Wisconsin.
PCC
provided lit for a gift to cover costs for distribution by Christians in:
Campbellsport (gospel),
Kewaskum (gospel,
No
Excuses,
An
Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics),
Milwaukee (gospel),
and Mt. Horeb,
Wisconsin (gospel);
Independence, Missouri (gospel,
No
Excuses,
Urgent
Plea);
and Great Falls, Montana (gospel).
Back to top.
|
