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.