2013 Stampede Outreach Summary - Part 2

Monday through Wednesday was a blur as the team once again took to the streets, fishing for men in the ponds and streams that Calgary had to offer. This now included our good friend and one of the best Street Evangelists we know, Tony Miano.

John Heslop heralding the beautiful Gospel


Many received tracts during the proclamation of the word. On the right: CPM Lady helpers. On the Left: A man reading a tract while the word is preached.



Tuesday ushered in an unexpected blessing from the Lord. It was thought that we would first go to one of the many pancake breakfasts in the city, which would give us the opportunity to "fuel up" before starting out our day. The thought was, that  there may be a few hundred people to hand tracts to, then we could eat and run. We were wrong. Dead wrong.

We decided to first hit up the breakfast at Market Mall along Shaganappi Trail. As we rounded the corner after parking it came as a huge surprise to see literally thousands of people lined up to have their sausage & eggs, which caused us to immediately switch gears and get busy.


Brian Godley and John Heslop encouraging one-another after handing out hundreds of tracts to the crowd.



After backing up onto public property (on strip of grass between Shaganappi Trail and Mall property) Tony gave an open air message of hope to the crowds.



Alex Osborne went next!


It must have hit home for some as we received this email from one of the attendees:

Hi,

I am writing to you as a VERY upset customer of Market Mall. I decided to go to the pancake breakfast this year. At the breakfast, some people were handing out $1000000 bills. I get that it makes people look at it, and I get that religious groups are free to speak, however, the back of it includes extreme religious statements that are far beyond what should be handed children. My 6 year old was handed one and read it and it scared the living daylights out of him. Luckily my 4 year old can't read the one handed out to her.

I have attached a copy of the bill, including the back which basically tells my kids that they die because of sin, which includes lying, and even mentions lust and sexual desire. I am not anti-religion, but I am anti-child abuse, and as far as I am concerned, this crosses the line of mental abuse.

Please respond or I will be forced to take this matter further.

Andrea

No intolerance there huh? We did respond with kindness and another presentation of the Gospel which didn't seem to be to her liking. Our response read:

 Andrea:

Might I point out that the message does not leave the reader in dire straits with God, but offers God`s loving solution for the problem we all have. Please take note of the last paragraph on the tract, that lets us know that Jesus Christ took upon himself the punishment we rightly deserve. I suggest you comfort your kids with the reality that our sin separates us from God, but that God the Son (who is fully God & Fully man) stepped down out of Heaven 2000 years ago, lived the perfect sinless life that none of us could or have and then paid the penalty our sins have incurred. He then rose again from the dead proving that God the Father accepted His (Jesus`) perfect sacrifice and that Jesus has power over death, hell and the grave and can forgive. That by repenting from our sins and placing our faith & trust in Jesus we can be forgiven of our sins and placed in a right relationship with God so that we can be with Him in Heaven. Having no fear of Hell.

If you would like, we can mail you a DVD that explains this in much more detail, and would love to also send you bibles so you might study the scriptures to know for sure that what we are saying is true.

Thank you so much for your feedback. We do care about where you will spend eternity and simply love everyone to much to not bother telling the truth.

We pray that the Lord would settle you and that you might think on these things, giving you grace.

Blessings,

Kevin

Her Response:

Apparently you are missing the point and I will be taking the matter further. Market mall has already taken steps to make sure your group is not allowed near their breakfast next year.
Don't presume I am ignorant. I grew up in the church and read the last paragraph, but it does not excuse the fact that these things can be explained kindly to children and not using scare tactics.

This was a most inappropriate response. There was not even a hint of apology, you just used it as another time to spread your own beliefs. That reflects poorly on your church. 

There was more thread, but the point is that she used her children to drive home her hatred and disapproval for the message we were giving. Just another angry false convert spouting her hatred for God and His people. If she really was a believer she would have realized that everything on the tract was from the bible including the passage from Matthew 5:27-28 where Jesus considers lust the same as adultery. Jesus didn't hold back simply because there were children in the crowds, but rather preached the truth, so shouldn't we?

Tuesday afternoon was spent in the sleepy hollow of Kensington near the Plaza Theatre, after being fed lunch by our Pastor who had joined us for the day!

Tony preaching in "Sleepy Hollow" on the "Cushy Life" inspired by the name of the store behind us where the women inside had come out to inform us of their disgust!



Mike talking to a passer by in the "stream" of people strolling through.



Andy Osborne heralding the Law & Gospel 



Chris Sippley "Thunders out the Word of God"!




Wednesday Pancake breakfast brought some new vision and boldness to our witness. After tracting the crowd (and being told to leave) we set up on the public sidewalk to herald the Gospel. This time armed with the 1/2 mile Hailer!

See video here

Wednesday afternoon was spent on Stephen Ave with the team.


Kevin being heckled by the man on the left. (notice the snakes in his left hand)



Robert preaching, Jerry with his cross. Sitting in the middle was a man who at first was apposed to the message. After talking with him for quite some time he then stuck around for the whole afternoon listening. He went home with a bible!


The Gospel continued to go out with great power and authority from on high throughout the rest of the week.




Special thanks to Melissa Heslop for the pictures used here.

2013 Stampede Outreach Summary - Part 1

Psalm 29:11-11

May the Lord give strength to his people!
    May the Lord bless his people with peace!

This year we embarked on what would turn out to be the most rewarding, refreshing and rejuvenating outreaches in our whole time as a ministry.

On July 4th, a caravan of camping evangelists showed up in our hometown and snuggled into our back yard to enjoy the fellowship of the Gospel while we prayed, praised, ate and talked the things of the Lord, making the most of our time in encouraging and strengthening one another for the daily work to be given us by our King.
This caravan consisted of two families from New Brunswick Canada, along with two brothers from the U.S.A.
The Osborne family: Jerry & Maria with their young men Andy and Alex who blessed us with such humility and love, not to mention the laughs and prayerful concern for their hosts. What a blessed family indeed who poured out blessings on us all at every turn. The desire to grow in Christ  was clearly seen in this family and will have lasting impact on us for eternity.
The Sippley family: Chris and Paula with their beautiful children Nathan and Zoe. It was such a delight to be blessed by such a joyous family, who shared their joy in abundance, leaving big smiles on everyone's faces. Not to mention their wisdom, humility, love and the beautiful example of what it is to live out the christian life that was clearly shown through them.
Mike Stockwell: Our family and ministry team will certainly miss the unique blessing that Mike brings with his joyful humor, his evident and tangible love for his Savior along with the continuous outflow of exhortation to be focused on the King.
Robert Gray: Robert's humble character, quiet spirit and the sharp focus of knowing Christ, being like Christ and being an example to all those around him of what modeling Christ should look like with genuine passion has certainly blessed us profoundly.

Backyard Fellowship being enjoyed in the "Open-Air Preacher's Trailer Park"



Friday July 5th we set out to start off our mission by loading up with 10's of thousands of tracts to distribute along the parade route. With several different types of tracts we split up into two teams, Team 1 tackling 9th Ave travelling West, Team 2 on 6th Ave going West from 1st Street S.W. Once completed we met at 9th & 9th for a quick debrief before heading off to Stephen Ave.


Riding the LRT down to 1st Street S.W. at the Stampede Parade


The first person we ran across once arriving onto Stephen Ave was "The Whistler."
After he whistled us a couple hymns which were indeed a blessing, he bragged so pridefully about his talent that we challenged him to examine himself.

Here Robert is asking The Whistler if he has truly repented of his sin before God

The rest of the afternoon and Saturday was spent on Stephen Ave which bore many fruits including speaking to a man named Ron who had "walked away" from his Anglican church. He had just been flooded out of his basement apartment and was virtually starting over in his later portion of life. After being challenged to look at his sin, including forsaking the gathering of the Saints, Ron heard the proclamation of the Gospel. He then exclaimed; "That was so Powerful!" He was then encouraged to be a part of a church and since he lives Downtown was pointed toward Calvary Grace Church.

Kevin speaking with Ron before praying with him for God's help.




As Sunday dawned and we were able to rest and reflect upon the two days spent, it was evident to us that this was just the beginning. God was strengthening us and bringing us together that we might share the Good News to many more thousands of souls, persevering in "contending for the faith."

Everyone Knows A Fake!

In an article published in the Calgary Sun with the headline: "City facing conundrum  over preacher who crashed Stampede parade," the world got it right when it said; "Well known to police and bylaw, Pawlowski has made a career out of attention-seeking, ostensibly in the name of Christ." 

 

To the Christian community and more specifically to ministries such as Calgary Peacemakers (CPM), this is an embarrassment to the ministry of reconciliation that the Lord Jesus Christ has commissioned for His church. For true followers of the word, this type of ungodly, self-promoting irreverent behavior spells out disaster in that the people of Calgary at large think for some reason we belong to Pawlowski's sect, or that we endorse it in some way. This is simply untrue and needs to be clarified with the Word of God. 

In the bible the Apostle Peter, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote this to His followers: 1 Peter 2:12-15;  12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution,whether it be to the emperor as supreme,14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

It is terribly grieving to me that Pawlowski while claiming to be a true follower of our Lord, refuses to submit to the word of God and therefore is "Lord of Self" and disqualifies himself from being a truly called minister of Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 3:1-3 

If Art and his followers were indeed being truly persecuted for unconstitutional bylaws imposed on our rights (such as the unconstitutional imposing of bylaw(s) to thwart the outreach that needs to take place outside of the Calgary Murder Mill, for instance), I would have to say he was right in doing so, and am not arguing the point that Christians need to stand up for our rights, but do oppose vehemently the un-biblical, self-promoting, ungodly way in which he is doing it. This is bringing reproach upon God's church and the Lord Jesus whom we adore! Romans 13:1-2;  Romans 12:14-18

In great contrast (only by the Grace of God) the ministry of CPM for the three years we have been preaching in Calgary, has grown to be very fond of our Police and Bylaw officers, regularly being entreated to encouragement and help. In fact yesterday, one officer said to one of our preachers; "I believe every word you've said..." 

Numerous times we have engaged bylaw and city police in friendly conversations and have had no issue with them when asked to move stations or to turn the volume down! This should be the natural way that any true Christian group should respond in keeping with the demands of scripture in submission to local authority. We consider it a great honor to be able to warn people of the coming peril awaiting them (without Christ as Lord), and calling them to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, just as the bible commands us to do. But  doing this with a spirit of humility, preaching the truth in love to a world who is obviously "dead in their trespasses and sin..." Ephesians 2:1-2 

Street church is also a part of the growing trend of "Faith Healers" who claim to have supernatural powers from God to perform all types of healing of which we know by reading the bible, were only given to the Apostles for a certain amount of time to authenticate the Gospel they were preaching while Christ was forming what we now know as the church. Even the Apostle Paul had clearly lost this brief supernatural gift as we see in 1 Timothy 5:23  when he instructs Timothy to medicate himself with wine because of his stomach issue. If he still had his gift, would he have not laid hands on Timothy and made him well as he did with many in the early chapters of Acts? Please visit our dear brother in Christ, Justin Peter's website and video's for more clarity and exposure of this horrendous movement here.  

Yes, God still does and can still miraculously heal if He so chooses, but not through the means of using rebellious men like this to do so, but rather in answer to the prayers of His saints. We also praise God for the many doctors and nurses let alone the technological advances He has allowed us to discover. 

We also thank God for what He is doing in Calgary, and for the public servants that He has placed for us here. May it be that each and every Calgarian hear of the awesomeness of the "One True God" being given opportunity to respond to Him in repentance and faith through His means alone: using humble men and women of true faith in Him to share the life changing Gospel of Jesus Christ in love. 

So Calgary, we encourage you to ignore this charlatan and turn to listen to the beautiful proclamation of truth. 

In love I respectfully implore you in the name of our King!

Kevin St. John