Open Air: Business As Usual

Having gone through the GoPro footage, I’d have to say that last Wednesday afternoon was not particularly eventful. The gospel was preached, many folk took tracts, and there were far more encouraging comments than otherwise. The sun shone, a pleasant breeze blew, and Stephen managed to keep going for a reasonable length of time despite a troublesome sore throat.

Before we began, it was a great pleasure to encounter Jim Hamilton again after a number of years. We talked for a while, and then he and his colleague Philip moved off down Market Street to set up elsewhere. I invite you to visit his website - just search for “The Street Preacher”, and add “Jimmy Hamilton” if that alone doesn’t take you there. You will find much of interest on that site, although we can agree to disagree on one or two things, e.g. KJV only. Oh, and I see that he’s expanded his articles on street preaching into a full-length work! Good reviews on Amazon - and an especially glowing one from someone called “Stephen”. Who might that be, I wonder..?

[N.B. Another Stephen, not the one above. If you don’t get the jokes, don’t worry. You won’t be the only one.]

What little drama there was was provided by a man clutching a can of McEwans. He tried to start an argument by asking idiotic questions like “Did Jesus wear a three-quarter length coat with buttons down the front?” and getting angry when I suggested that this was unlikely. I calmed him down after a few minutes, but, at the offer of a bible, he took to his heels.

Then, while I was preaching, I was interrupted by a chubby, bald-headed, bespectacled bloke wearing - of all things - a Black Panther tee shirt. He wasn’t. He appeared to be a non-Christian pretending to be a Christian who was pretending to be a non-Christian in order to have a laugh at my expense. A complete waste of his time - but I was able to send him on his way with a bible and a copy of “Ultimate Questions”.

After that it was business as usual. Brendan and Peter were hard at work over by McDonald’s, but it’s difficult to give more details about what they were up to, since most of the time they were hidden by the passing throng. You’ll find some prayer requests from them down below.

Tomorrow promises to be a pleasant day: “Light cloud and a gentle breeze.” I don’t mind the heat (35°C outside at the moment), although I appreciate that others find it irksome. But it’s hardly the heat-death of the universe, as the MSM would have us believe, is it? That comes later… So, join us if you can, and please pray for us if otherwise engaged. Please pray also for those mentioned above, and for the following folk. We’ll be there at 12.30pm as usual, God willing, as always.

[Prayer requests omitted, since they sometimes contain personal/sensitive information. If you are a born-again believer, and would like to support this work in prayer, then you can give your email address to our pastor, and he will arrange for you to receive the newsletter in full.]

Every blessing!