Labor Day in Pismo Pt.4
Download this episode (19 min)
The sun began to go down. The heat began to subside. I was tired and ready to go home. Then brother Robert said, “hey Allen, you want to do another open air?” He asked if I brought my portable PA system. I said, “yes,” and “yes.”
I also brought my mannequin. We set up right at the mouth of Pismo pier, underneath a light. I laid the inflatable body down and draped the dark blue sheet over it. Robert and I just stared at it for a minute and people began to stop and see what happened.
This was only the second time we have used the dead body approach but it is effective. Robert opened up and spoke about death. This relates to us all – no matter who you are or where you come from. When we hear of someone dying, or if we speak of death, people think of their own mortality.
Robert preached for twenty minutes and I preached for awhile to. I was a bit bummed because my MP3 recorder ended up being to close to the speaker of the PA – much of the recording was too distorted to use. So this podcast is clips of the less distorted portions of the open air. Midway through the recording quality improves quite a bit.
Though the recording quality could have been better, the number of people who came to hear the Gospel preached was far more than what I expected. There was even a couple walking by that stopped and set their lawn-chairs up to sit and listen.
Many people stayed to listen, many people passed by. I read a something that Spurgeon wrote that I often think about when people just walk on past. He said, “In the street, a man must keep himself alive, and use many illustrations and anecdotes, and sprinkle a quaint remark here and there. To dwell long on a point will never do. Reasoning must be brief, clear, and soon done with. The discourse must not be labored or involved, neither must the second head depend upon the first, for the audience is a changing one, and each point must be complete in itself. The chain of thought must be taken to pieces’ and each link melted down and turned into bullets: you will need not so much Saladin’s saber to cut through a muslin handkerchief as Coeur de Lion’s battle-axe to break a bar of iron. Come to the point at once, and come there with all your might."
He is right! Dwelling long on a point will never do and one part of what a street preacher says shouldn’t depend upon the other. Why? Because the audience is always changing. Each point must be complete in its self. Again, this is so true. I need to learn to do this. A thirty second discourse on God, righteousness, sin, man, judgment, hell, Jesus Christ, life, death, resurrection, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, repentance and faith. It can be done. I’ve heard people do it before. These are the “bullets” that we need to be shooting. Hit the target, and they will take these truths with them.
Spurgeon also said that, "It will be very desirable to speak so as to be heard, but there is no use in incessant bawling. The best street preaching is not that which is done at the top of your voice, for it must be impossible to lay the proper emphasis upon telling passages when all along you are shouting with all your might. When there are no hearers near you, and yet people stand upon the other side of the road and listen, would it not be well to cross over and so save a little of the strength which is now wasted?”
He goes on to say, “A quiet, penetrating, conversational style would seem to be the most telling. Men do not bawl and holler when they are pleading in deepest earnestness; they have generally at such times less wind and a little more rain: less rant and a few more tears. On, on, on with one monotonous shout and you will weary everybody and wear out yourself. Be wise now, therefore, O ye who would succeed in declaring your Master’s message among the multitude, and use your voices as common sense would dictate."
I’m learning that no one wants to hear a bunch of yelling. It sure wears you out quick I can tell you that. There is a fine line between lifting “up your voice like a trumpet” (Isa. 58. 1), and just plain yelling.
I wish we could always use the portable PA system so we wouldn’t have to shout to be heard. It was quite relaxing to just speak easy into the mic and let the PA do the heavy lifting. I could definitely get used to using it all the time. However, Jesus, Paul, Peter, John the Baptist, and many other open-air preachers came long before me and they didn’t have PA systems. How did they do it without yelling?
This night was a pure joy and I thank God for you brother Robert. Christian, please pray for those who heard the Gospel.
Posted by Ambassador at 6:31 PM | MAKE A COMMENT
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