We met at 11:00 for prayer to begin outreach at the LIRR with our permit in hand. The team was Heidi, Debbie and I, and we prayed that God would bring up people with enough time to stop and let us read them what the Bible teaches about salvation and questions they have about life. God did this! There is no greater joy for me this side of heaven! We had the opportunity to read from the Bible to people about God’s perspective on various belief systems—on everything from evolution and atheism to the occult—and many resources were taken. I can’t recall all of the conversations, and perhaps I will post soon on the blog summaries from Heidi and Debbie, because we were all very busy in conversation. We thought we would have a slow day because of it being Easter/Passover weekend in NYC, but that was not the case. The Lord brought up a steady stream of people from all backgrounds and many ethnicities to take materials and ask about how to have a relationship with Jesus, as we explained to them verses from the Bible about Jesus and why He is called the Resurrection and the Life.

One man who looked to be in his 20s, dressed as a woman, wearing a wig and makeup with painted nails approached. He said, “Hi, I am Cynthia, and I really need some food.”

I reached for a DVD from Pure Passion (testimonies of former homosexuals, cross dressers, sex addicts, etc. who have come to know Jesus and found new life in purity…) and replied, “Cynthia, if I buy you some lunch, you are going to get hungry again. I want to offer you food for your soul from Jesus who promises to satisfy your heart. He even calls Himself the “Bread of Life” and promises that if we come to Him, He will fill the deep longings of our heart to overflowing with His PURE and HOLY Spirit. There is only one condition: you have to be willing to repent. You may not want His love and all He has to offer you, because He is pure. He is honest and does not ever lie. You may not want that kind of God. The ‘god of this age’ sets you free to sin, but Jesus sets you free from it. If we come to Him, we come to Him on His terms and not our own. You have to be willing to agree with God about how He defines Himself in the Bible and agree with Him on His definition of sin. Here at Easter we celebrate how He died for us and rose again. We have to die when we come to Him.” I read him Acts 17:30-31, “God is calling all men everywhere to repent, because He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead.”

Cynthia asked, “May I have a Bible?” I gave him a Bible, and I told him that God loves Him so much that He brought him over to our table for us to tell him about God’s love. He said, “My mother kicked me out of her house, because she said she does not allow people having sex outside of marriage in her home.” I said, “That sounds like she loves purity, like God. She would be so thankful to know you are at our table today, and I am sure she is praying for you.” The guy bowed his head wearing his blonde wig, and from his lips covered in pink lipstick he replied, “Yeah, I am sure she is praying for me.”

He said he was homeless. He gave me back the DVD I offered him explaining he does not have a way of viewing it. I said, “You can have this Bible, but first let me read you some verses.” I went to Romans 1:27-28 and read the verses against homosexuality and 1 Corinthians 6:9-18: “…Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate…shall inherit the kingdom of God..”, and he listened. I explained how that God hates homosexuality and immorality and calls people who live in this lifestyle “unrighteous.” Then, I quoted Isaiah 55:1 by memory: “Ho! Everyone that thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come, buy and eat…Incline your ear and come to Me; hear and your soul shall live…” I continued, “Cynthia, God has so much to give you, but you can only get it through repentance of sin. It is an act of the heart when you decide to turn from your old way of thinking and living and come to God on His terms. If you want Jesus, you have to be willing to deny yourself. This is the heart of the salvation message. You can’t live for yourself and God at the same time.”

A couple came up and interrupted, speaking directly to Cynthia, asking, “Didn’t we meet you here last night?” They were Christians, they explained, and they had been telling Cynthia about God’s love. I said, “I was just telling her to repent in order to be saved and know Jesus.” They looked at me with shock and explained they were from a church in Nashville (which is known for being part of a growing movement in America called the “emergent church”). I read verses from the Bible very politely and lovingly about repentance, and I could tell this couple did not like these verses. I continued with Cynthia, as this couple listened. I very warmly said to Cynthia in the presence of these emergent Christians, “Here is your verse for the day.” I turned to John 3:36 and read “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” I explained, “This is coming from the God who IS LOVE.” This couple from the emergent church looked shocked, as if they had never read that verse before. I was thankful they simply added, “Cynthia, you need to go to church tomorrow.”

I gave Cynthia a flier inviting him to my church, and I told him I would buy him some lunch. I bought Cynthia some lunch and gave a Bible to this man dressed like a woman hurting so deeply, and I explained that God loves him and wants a relationship with him, if he will only read the Bible and believe God is who He says He is and agree with God about His definition of sin. Cynthia promised to come to church the next day. I left him at the pizza place with the Bible I had given him and walked back to my table only to have my emergent Christian friends challenge me on the Bible verses I had just read to Cynthia. They remarked, “I want to disagree with you about telling this person to repent. This person needs to know the love of God.” I said, “This guy has no fear of God, and he knows the ‘love of God’ every time he turns around in this New Age/occult culture of ours where hardly anyone believes in hell or the holiness of the God of the Bible. My goodness, every time he looks at a magazine or watches TV in what has become a very pagan culture in America, he hears about “god’s love” in reincarnation and some universalism about how everyone goes to heaven and never hell. I was right to tell him to repent, because that is what the Bible teaches. That is the only saving Gospel! I would have taken the guy to verses about God’s mercy if he had seemed convicted over sin, but he does not seem convicted over his sin.”

I continued on with the “emergent Christian” people who were quite lost it seemed, as they had no clue about the what the Bible teaches about salvation! I asked this emergent Christian, “Why did Jesus die? If there is no hell or need for repentance, why did Jesus die?” There was silence. I reminded this couple that Jesus spoke more about hell than He did heaven. More people approached my table, and I had to cut the conversation short. The emergent couple amicably agreed to disagree with me about the need for repentance in salvation. (I thought of the little saying I grew up hearing in TN and thought to myself, With ‘Christians’ like this, it sure makes a lost person scarce. I was thankful, though, that at least they were cordial, and we had a peaceful talk about what it means to be saved according to the Bible.)

Yesterday morning I headed off to church with alacrity on Resurrection Sunday, praying God would let some of the people come we had invited from the outreach table. After Sunday School, no visitor looked familiar, and I silently said a prayer for Cynthia. My pastor gave a wonderful sermon on the Resurrection and how many times Jesus foretold his death and resurrection to His disciples, because He cared about them so much and did not want them to be afraid. At the end of the sermon the pastor gave an invitation, and we began to sing:

How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure

Down walked Cynthia.

We continued to sing:

That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

The pastor said, “We have some women who have come down, so if my wife, Debbie, could come and you also, Dwayna, to take them aside for counsel.” I got up and walked to Cynthia and began to weep from God’s amazing, merciful love. I walked with Cynthia to the back room to pray as the congregation continued to sing:

How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure…

We got to the back room, and I said, “Cynthia, I am so glad you are here, and you are a precious person with a soul that God wants to redeem and make His treasure, but we have to get honest now before God. You are a man. You don’t want to be, but you are.” He looked down and did not try to deny it. We bowed our heads, and I prayed, “Dear God, I thank You that You don’t make any mistakes when You make us. I know that this man is hurting so deeply, like only You can understand, but I pray You will heal him and make him whole.” He began to cry as I had my arm around him. I continued, ”Give him love from You as his Father like he has never known before…He has a soul, Lord, that you love and want to heal, and you see right past the wig and makeup, and I pray for this man created in Your image, that You will make him whole and new like only You can do.” He continued to cry as I prayed, “I thank You that the ground is level at the foot of the cross, and You see people who put on an act in deceitfulness who look far worse to You than a man wearing makeup and a wig, so heal this man who is hurting, and thank You for Your love and mercy and forgiveness.” I hugged Cynthia, and this guy wearing a wig hugged me and just kept weeping for a longer hug in his silk blouse. I knew God was at work to heal him. Afterwards, I texted him the number of a counselor who is a Christian and specializes in counseling people with gender confusion and cross dressing. I told him that God wants to give his heart a home and make him happy and whole as a man, and I told him I would be praying for him. I explained that I realize this is a very deep seated addiction, and it is going to take a lot of counseling for God to heal why he wants to be a woman. I told Cynthia that God does not want him to repent to make him miserable. He wants to give him the best life on earth—a life filled with His honest, healing and pure love.

Afterwards my pastor’s wife, Debbie, who worked with me at the outreach table said, “I awoke early this morning at 3:45 and said, ‘Lord, I could go back to sleep, but I am going to pray. I am going to stand in the gap for Cynthia.’”

I left church this morning on Resurrection Sunday with a heart overflowing in happiness, that God would let me have a small part in His miraculous work of raising a dead person to NEW life in Jesus, praising Him that His blood has the power to cleanse the filthiest sinner and make him white as snow. The Lord reminded me once again that He can do anything, and He can save anyone and that our evangelism matters to Him.

Dwayna Litz
April 2012

Wayne Guidry led our first table outreach at Louisiana State Penitentiary at the Angola Spring Rodeo in 2011. Plans are for us to have a table outreach of evangelism at all the annual rodeos, as tables are set up by the inmates to sell crafts and art. Our table makes evangelistic resources about Jesus available to the inmates and tourists for free, with a focus on reaching children, Catholics, Moslems and atheists.

Wayne got saved after becoming an inmate, and it was his idea to lead the outreach of evangelism at the spring rodeo to let others know what Jesus has done in his life. Like Jesus died and was raised to everlasting life, He gives people newness of life–every bit as much of a miracle as the resurrection!

“This mountain was destined to be a place of sacrifice. Did you know that the death of the Savior occurred on the same mountain where Abraham was led by God to sacrifice his only son? (See Genesis 22)  Do you think all of this happened by chance? No! It’s all a part of the plan of grace from the hands of a holy and loving God. There are three crosses. Originally the crosses were for three thieves–the two thieves whom now we know were crucified, and Barabbas. Jesus’ cross was Barabbas’ cross. Jesus died in his place. Jesus died in your place and in my place, the Just for the unjust.”
[Adrian Rogers, Why the Cross?, 8]

More photos of the rodeo

I HAVE HAD ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE AT THE NEW GA TECH OUTREACH. ALL THE PREPARATION WAS WORTH IT, AND GOD WAS AT WORK THROUGH OUR OUTREACH THERE. I was there from 3:00-7:30. (The team was there until almost midnight working in evangelism.) I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT! I have never felt happier or more indebted to God for being willing to use me in such glorious work! I witnessed hard hearts softening today toward Jesus. God used our team to point out to atheist and agnostic students that they were full of FAITH, just faith in themselves. Also, I spoke about music, as I asked how music could have evolved from a fish. One student thought that humans were no better than animals. I asked, “Have you ever known an animal to solve a chemistry equation?”

One of the students admitted to John Rosser, the leader, that he was a relativist. John cannily asked, “Are you sure about that?” He continued, “If you are sure about being a relativist, everything is not relative.”

It was a great day, and God was at work. WE HAVE A REMARKABLY STRONG TEAM OF CHRISTIANS DEFENDING THE FAITH IN LOVE AND TRUTH AT THIS NEW OUTREACH TABLE LOCATION. It is exciting!

More details about the first day of outreach at GA Tech and photos of our resources used in evangelism are available on the LTW blog.

John and Lee Rosser lead this outreach location. Please contact them to find out more about our evangelism at GA Tech.