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Redeeming
the Time at Cheese Days
• A
Gospel Witness 24/7 for 40 Days
• A
Witness for Biblical Marriage
• An
Evening Gospel Witness on the Square
• Polka-Playing
Wolves
• The
Sunday Afternoon Finale
Other
ministry, other places
PCC
Literature Distribution
Pilgrims
Covenant Church Public Ministry Update
July 20—September 20, 2006
Dear Friends,
Here is our latest ministry summary. The period
covered by this ministry also included our Labor
Day weekend camp meeting
which in turn featured over twelve hours of preaching and teaching. That
event coupled with my ongoing responsibilities to "Heart
of the Matter"
and my flock took quite a bit of my time in August, although I was able to
head up one four-town truth blitz and also stick with our weekly public
ministry in front of Planned Parenthood.
As always, we are also blessed to report that
Mike Foht continues to pound the pavement around southern Wisconsin
, lit
dropping homes with our anti-Sodom
literature/marriage
amendment flyer
and doing pickets to expose the public to the biblical truth about
homosexuality. As a Christian worker with our church, Mike also continues
a weekly ministry at Monroe Planned Parenthood as well as a Madison
abortion
mill. In addition, he is involved often in street preaching and gospel
tract distribution in the Madison
area. Those
who support PCC's public ministry help us to keep Mike on the move and
equipped for the fight. Individuals can also support Mike directly. I can
testify that he is one of the few "home missionaries" I have
ever known who is truly worthy of support. Mike has a good ministry work
ethic and a heart for truth which is second to none.
In closing this brief letter, I would also ask
you to pray for a work undertaken by an Oshkosh
ministry
called Wisconsin Marriage Defenders. This group is lit dropping towns with
our anti-Sodom literature and marriage amendment flyer. Our first delivery
to these brothers and sisters contained 10,000 of our brochures and the
marriage flyer. We expect to be providing much more literature to WMD
before the citizens of
Wisconsin
vote on the
marriage amendment in the fall. Of course, we continue to provide many
others with our literature as well. For instance, this summer, we supplied
a pastor in Brussels
, Wisconsin
with 6,000 of
our brochures for distribution in his area.
We thank the Lord for the efforts of WMD and also
for other unsung heroes who have been quietly, persistently fighting
door-to-door, street-by-street against
Sodom's
lies with the literature we provide them. Between PCC lit drops and the
efforts of those we supply in Wisconsin,
every month thousands upon thousands of Wisconsin
citizens receive our literature which not only
lays waste to Sodom's
propaganda but also includes a gospel message. Of course, our stand
against New Sodom is just one aspect of the public ministry of PCC.
My thanks goes out to those who support our work
either by prayer, finances, or both. You are a blessing to us. I hope this
ministry summary will be a blessing to you.
Pastor Ralph Ovadal
Redeeming
the Time at Cheese Days
"Redeeming the time, because the days are evil." —Ephesians 5:16
The church I pastor, Pilgrims Covenant, is
located near Monroe,
Wisconsin, a town in which many Swiss immigrants settled. Every other
year, Monroe
stages an
ethnic extravaganza which not only focuses on the Swiss heritage of the
town but also its reputation for producing world famous cheese—hence the
name Cheese Days. The name may seem comical to non-Wisconsinites, but this
is a dairy state; and Green County
, where
Monroe
is located,
has long been a leading producer of milk and milk products. While I have
been a dairy farmer and do love good cheese, I do not have a drop of Swiss
blood coursing through my veins. Few in Pilgrims
Covenant
Church do,
but that did not stop us from spending a great deal of time at Cheese
Days. The event is reputed to bring upwards of 200,000 people into our
town over its 4-day span. The visitors come from all over America
and even the
world. We bless God for such an opportunity and believe it is our blessing
and duty to redeem such a time for the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here is a short summary of our work at this year's Cheese Days the weekend
of September 16-17.
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Two of our three PCC
billboards. |
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A
Gospel Witness 24/7 for 40 Days
On August 10, a PCC billboard went up on a very
busy, main city street. That billboard was up over the Labor Day weekend
but came down on September 11. Two more identical billboards went up on
August 19, were up through Cheese Days and until September 20. Both were
also on very busy thoroughfares. One was across the street from our local
(struggling for some strange reason) Planned Parenthood clinic where we
minister every week. That sign also towered over a parking lot which was
jammed with cars all through Cheese Days. What a blessing it is to know
that literally hundreds of thousands of lost souls have been witnessed to
through our signs even though our town only has a population of ten
thousand! I have no doubt that the Spirit of the Lord used our billboards
to prepare many hearts in advance of our open-air gospel ministry at
Cheese Days and also used them mightily to deepen the effect of our
witness afterwards. Not only did the Cheese Days visitors see our signs;
but also Monroe,
being the county seat and the location of many stores, is visited by
people from all around the surrounding area.
Back
to top.
A
Witness for Biblical Marriage
Our first
street
ministry at
Cheese Days was a witness for marriage as God ordained it. We did this in
support of a marriage "protection" amendment to our state
constitution on which citizens will be voting in a referendum this fall.
This was also a chance to witness on the issue to out-of-staters, not to
mention foreign visitors. We set up our signs, including gospel signs, on
Saturday morning at the busiest intersection in Monroe
at the busiest time, over the noon
hour. The witness went very well, and we were also able to
give out quite a few of the brochure What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality
to occupants of cars stopped at the lights. Back
to top.
An
Evening Gospel Witness on the Square
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Handing out gospel
tracts at Cheese Days. |
Our next ministry event took place Saturday
evening in Monroe's
town square in the shadow of our historic county courthouse. The square is
completely closed to vehicular traffic all through Cheese Days, instead
being filled with vendor booths, grandstands, and stages for various
entertainment. We set up our large
gospel signs
at several different locations on the square and then set about handing
out gospel
tracts. Although the Saturday night crowd is
quite small when compared to Sunday's teeming hordes, we still put gospel
tracts into the hands of 2,000 lost souls! Yes, we did receive a certain
amount of mocking and vitriol, but we also had some very good one-on-one
interaction with many individuals. For the sake of time, I will share just
two testimonies.
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One-on-one witness
at Cheese Days. |
In the first case, a very rough businesswoman who
used to hate us and stoutly resisted our gospel witness to her family
smilingly approached one of my daughters and took a gospel tract out of
her hands even before it was offered. Next, this one-time bitter foe came
up behind me as I was handing out tracts, patted me on the shoulder, and
greeted me. We then had a nice talk about her family and some difficulties
in her life.
In another instance, an unbelieving man walked up
to me and pulled one of our tracts out of his pocket. He then told me that
on a previous day he had learned that his close friend has been diagnosed
with terminal cancer. The man said he was at a loss as to how to comfort
his friend at such a time and simply told him, "I guess we all have
to die sometime." Then, a short time before he talked with me, the
man was standing in the middle of the Cheese Days revelry on the square,
staring down at his feet and thinking sadly about his friend's hopeless
situation. Suddenly the tract we were handing out titled How
Long Have I to Live?
blew up to him, landed on one of his shoes, and "seemed to stick to
it." He stared at the title, picked up the tract, read it, and
thought, "I am supposed to give this to my friend!" If this is
not the providential work of a merciful, sovereign God, what else could it
be? We thank the Lord for such blessings; we pray both the man I talked to
and his friend will be saved by the power of God! We are also reminded of
the importance of much prayer prior to taking to the open-air with the
gospel. Back
to top.
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The lull before the storm.
Waiting to move to the front. |
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Polka-Playing
Wolves
On the Sunday morning of Cheese Days, we headed
to the square again, this time to confront a pack of apostate local wolves
holding a "Polka Ecumenical Church Service" on one of the
entertainment stages. The 9:30 AM
service was
proceeded by—believe it or not—a Swiss fashion show. We gave out
gospel tracts and held signs well back from the fashion show as we waited
for our moment to strike a blow for the name, honor, and glory of God
against the wretched blasphemy sponsored by the Union Presbyterian Church.
Since the fashion show ran overtime and I was due
to preach soon in our own church, I began to despair of my chance to
"earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the
saints." Just as I thought we would have to leave, the stage was
suddenly empty, and the announcement was made that it would have to be
reset before the "polka service" could begin. At that point, I
had two prepositioned teams move their large signs to the front of the
crowd. In addition to our gospel
signs,
we had a sign on one side of the stage which read, "Worship the Lord
in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29:2," and on the other side which
read, "Love not the world. 1 John 2:15."
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No, I did not do the polka
with that lady.
A Swiss-costumed apostate tries
to silence Pastor Ovadal as he
begins to preach at the "Polka
Ecumenical Church Service." |
I then raised my voice and announced myself as a
minister of the gospel who was also going to preach. I first preached
against the apostate pastors present as being wolves in sheep's clothing.
I next preached to the assembled crowd what the Bible says concerning
worship of the Lord, using Psalm 29:2 and also Hebrews 12:28-29. Lastly, I
spent some time preaching the gospel. As I first began to preach, a number
of Swiss-costumed individuals, at least one being a "pastor,"
descended on me and did their best to intimidate me into silence. I
denounced the wolf for what he is and continued preaching. In retrospect,
it must have been a strange sight to see me in my Sunday best, Bible in
hand, with the Swiss-costumed wolves yapping about me as I preached to the
crowd. The Lord was very merciful to me as I preached, causing my voice to
be more than loud enough to be easily heard by the whole crowd assembled
and beyond. As "the Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sandlin-Foss" finally
hurried to the microphone, I challenged the local apostate clergy to meet
me on stage to debate the Word of God and directed my parting shot,
"You are a wolf!" at Sandlin-Foss. At that point, our window of
opportunity closed as the apostates' amplified sound system was cranked up
and put to use. And we were late for our own Pilgrims Covenant service; so
off we went rejoicing that we were given the strength and boldness to
defend the gospel.
After our witness, I heard that a member of our
church said of my preaching, "I would never have the boldness to do
that." But we must always remember that there are different sorts of
boldness and never give glory to any man based on his exercising the
boldness he is called to exercise in fulfillment of his duty to the Lord.
I know godly women and humble, quiet men, who are often bolder than I am
when it comes to one-on-one witness at the check-out counter or while
traveling on a plane or bus. We must also remember that what looks like a
man's boldness is often a man being propelled into action by the Spirit of
God and due to no strength of his own. Let us each pray to be bolder for
our Lord and give Him the glory in all things.
As a footnote, the Monroe
police on the
scene when I was preaching acted like the well-trained professionals that
they are, protecting First Amendment speech and religious liberty. Back
to top.
The
Sunday Afternoon Finale
After our church service at PCC, we broke into
teams and headed back to Monroe to
minister at and after the Cheese Days parade, which I am told is the
longest in Wisconsin. We again also set up gospel
signs
at various locations on the square. We gave out gospel
tracts on the square and also all along the
parade route. This time around, we handed out approximately 3,800 tracts,
making our grand total for the Cheese Days event 6,300. We headed home
feeling blessed to have been used by the Lord in a great work. Back
to top.
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Giving out lit during one
of our truth blitz stops. |
Other
ministry, other places
On August 5, PCC did a truth blitz which included
literature distribution and a public witness with our large signs. The
issue was homosexuality/marriage. As always, we also included a strong
gospel witness. The cities we visited were Sauk
City, Baraboo,
Portage, and
the extremely crowded tourist city of Wisconsin Dells.
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One-on-one witness with a
young
lady under strong conviction. |
The truth blitz was a day well spent, including
because we had a number of good opportunities to witness one-on-one, at
times with people who obviously were under great conviction by the Holy
Ghost. In addition, we received much encouragement along our day-long
trek, including from a lady who stopped and asked for some literature to
put on the doors of several sodomite neighbors!
Of course, we were also the target of a certain
amount of wrath from those whom "the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against." One small group of sodomite young people tried
mightily to get some police action against us but failed. Other
antagonists restricted their efforts to the usual verbal harangues. Back
to top.
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A young friend of ours from London
,
England
helping with our weekly
Planned Parenthood ministry. |
PCC
Literature Distribution
PCC
mailed
Homosexuality:
The Truth,
What
the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality,
and our marriage
amendment flyer
to Brussels, Wisconsin
rural homes.
PCC
distributed
either Homosexuality:
The Truth
or What
the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality,
along with our marriage
amendment flyer,
to homes in the following towns: Beaver Dam, Beloit, Germantown, Menomonee
Falls, Oconomowoc, Orfordville, Pardeeville, Port Washington, Racine, West
Bend, and Windsor.
PCC
distributed literature at the following schools: Oconomowoc and Pardeeville high schools.
PCC
provided the above named tracts and flyers to others free of charge for
distribution in the following towns: Milwaukee,
North Fond du Lac, Omro, Palmyra
, Racine,
Ripon,
Wauwatosa, and
West Bend
.
PCC
provided at cost literature for distribution in:
Milwaukee, Palmyra, and
Racine,
Wisconsin;
Amarillo,
Texas; Danville, Indiana;
Omaha, Nebraska;
and Para
Hills, Australia
.
Note: As of this report, Pilgrims Covenant Church has
distributed 140,000 copies of our marriage
amendment flyer to Wisconsinites.
Back to
top.
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