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CONFERENCE SESSIONS
My ministry Open Air Outreach hosted The First National Street Preachers Conference in Dallas Fort Worth Texas this year.
We had street preachers come from all over the country to participate in this three day conference. During the morning we would have sessions for inspiration and equipping. In the afternoon we would have an outreach. In the evening we would have more sessions. And then at nighttime we would have more outreach.
We had many speakers and many sessions over the three day conference but one of the main themes that was pressed is the need for both Evangelism and Discipleship. The Street Preacher Movement is about saving and changing America and that won’t happen through evangelism alone. The Great Commission is about preaching the Gospel and making disciples. Can you imagine if every mature believer in the country had at least one disciple a year? That would make a huge impact!
I made sure to record all of the lectures that were given at the conference and I will upload them all to my Youtube channel as my time permits.
The University of North Texas
This is a before and after picture of the same location! We went from having zero listeners to having over 1,000 in a very short amount of time! Praise the Lord! This shows how powerful street preaching really can be in reaching the masses. We can literally preach a Gospel sermon to 1,000 people, unannounced and unadvertised. Open Air preaching is the most effective way to reach the most amount of people, at the least amount of time and at the least expense.
Years ago the University of North Texas would allow preachers on the campus in “free speech areas.” But they changed their policy to crack down on “unwanted outsiders” by requiring outside groups obtain “sponsorship” from student groups in order to be on campus. That was a blessing in disguise for this campus because their old policy required advance notice of three days, which had to be made in person, and you were limited to their free speech area for only three hours. When their new policy came into play, I started preaching on the city sidewalk which the administration had no control over. Now I can show up and preach whenever I want, for as long as I want. And the sidewalk is right in front of a busy staircase that gets lots of foot traffic.
Our open air meeting grew to be so big and caused such a stir on campus that the local news helicopter started hovering over us to film what was going on! Remember, we had a crowd of over 1,000 people. We actually spent two days on this campus, with huge crowds each day, and the news helicopter was there each day to film what was happening! Imagine that, a news helicopter just because of a handful of street preachers!
This campus was full of all sorts of liberal groups who were outraged that we were preaching to the campus. These liberal groups came out to protest us with their signs and chants. There were a lot of rainbow flags out there to represent homosexuality. We had to break out the bullhorn when they started chanting to drown out the preaching.
One man brought out his musical instrument to blast while we were preaching. The noise of the crowd became so loud that we couldn’t really have just one open-air preacher at a time anymore. The whole scene broke down into a lot of one-on-one witnessing groups. Every street preacher there was surrounded by a group of students asking questions. In the picture above you can see one brother, Zachary, engaging a nice group with one man hanging on the pole to get above the crowd and listen. This picture remembers me of the biblical story of Zacchaeus in the tree.
The students had their signs and we had ours. My favorite was a Matthew 1:21 sign that a pastor brought out with the team. It emphasized salvation from sin through Jesus. And it was just a simple Bible Scripture. It was also cool to see him wearing one of our scripture street preaching t-shirts! It had 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 on the front and then 1 Corinthians 6:11 on the back.
Throughout the day there were times that it got very heated and other times that it cooled down. Usually these things calm down the more time goes on. Sometimes you have to just let these liberal college students scream and shout and chant for an hour to wear themselves out. Then once they are all tired out, you can preach the Gospel to them.
One advantage that we had was that our banners and signs were on tall poles, so even though we were surrounded by hundreds of college students everyone could still see our signs with their biblical message loud and clear. These signs said things like, “God Hates Sin,” “Jesus Saves from Hell,” and “Jesus Said Go and Sin No More.”
As the outreach broke up into small groups and one-on-one witnessing, we were able to have a more personal and intimate impact on these students. We were able to open up our Bibles and share the Scriptures with them directly out of the Word.
I find it interesting that critics will sometimes tell us that our Bible Banners and Gospel Signs are not an effective way of communication. But whenever liberals want to protest something, the first thing they do is to make their own signs to display in public! Businesses spend billions of dollars a year on signs and advertising. “Signs don’t work” is a lie the devil tells Christians because he knows how effective they really are in reaching the masses. If anything belongs on a sign, its the message of the gospel!
As you can see, when we left the crowd at the end of each day it was still HUGE! We had people gathered on both sides of the street, on the sidewalk, on the grass, on the hills, etc. It really was a massive outreach! We plowed a very hard field and planted a lot of seeds. Pray that these seeds will continued to be watered and come to full growth!
One of my favorite times of an outreach is the fellowship and food afterwards!
Great food with great people after doing great things is a great time!
The Grassy Knoll in Dallas
(Where President JFK Was Assassinated)
This spot is known as “The Grassy Knoll.” This is the location in Dallas where President JFK was killed. Every weekend tourists from all over the world come to this location. Tourist locations are one of the best places for street preaching because you can reach the world without going very far and you get new people every day!
The assassination of JFK is not a hard topic to springboard off of either. “One day, we are all going to die. It is appointed unto man once to die and after this comes the judgment. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is everlasting life through Jesus Christ the Lord.”
I had some simple “Trust Jesus” signs with me to give to brethren who wanted them. One man joined us for this outreach because he worked nearby. He was actually a local tattoo artist but he had been watching YouTube videos of street preachers and wanted to come out to support the conference! You never know who is watching the YouTube videos and the laborers that are being raised up!
Again, great food and great fellowship afterwards! You really should consider coming to next years conference! It’s a great time! Mark your calendars for March!
Sundance Square
Sundance Square in Fort Worth is one of my favorite places in the whole country for street preaching because in the evening time there are lots of people hanging out and if you start to street preach they will gather around to listen and engage you. It can be exceptionally difficult to gather a crowd on the street, unlike on a university where it can be easy, but at this location I’ve been shocked at how easy its been. They circle around us and listen for a long time! We’ve held a crowd over an hour at this spot!
We first went out Friday night but the foot traffic was pretty dead. We didn’t get much going on that first try. But on Saturday night it was very busy and it didn’t take us long to get a great open air meeting going!
Another great thing about this location was that it isn’t a bar and club district. There are bars and clubs but there are also restaurants and other attractions that bring out a more family friendly crowd. This is great because the people are we witnessing to and preaching to aren’t intoxicated. We preach late into the night and there are sober people all night long to preach to.
THE STREET PREACHER CONFERENCE IN THE NEWS
The local news covered our Street Preacher Conference and was fair enough. It wasn’t heavily slanted or biased against us the way student papers usually are. The best part about the news coverage was that they actually aired our Bible Signs for all the world to see!
One pastor who came said he had such a great time that next year he plans on bringing 100 young men to participate! That next conference will be in March in Dallas Fort Worth TX again. Email me and let me know if you want to come!
WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CONFERENCE IN THIS MOVIE:
MINISTRY TESTIMONIES
Making a Difference for the Kingdom of God!
“The conference was very fruitful in that several students/truth seekers connected with me via fb afterwards. Righteous seeds were sewn and I believe with all my heart the Lords word will not return void. His works are being perfected in the Saints and I look forward to learning how to be a better light, a better witness, and more faithful in the area of OA Evangelism, the least supported and most needed area of ministry. Thank you for hosting this event in honor of our risen Saviour! I look forward to serving next year.”
~ Kristi (Wylie, Tx.)
“The conference had brought men and women across the country to hear from both recent to seasoned open air preachers. We were edified in hearing from God’s heart what we as street preachers needed to hear as well as things we didn’t think to hear. But we were not left hearers only, no, we were able to put into practice what we did hear and preach and see the work of God move on college students and strangers alike. Praise God I’m looking forward to next year to see the working of God move again.”
~ Sebastian (Tyler, Tx)
“All I can say is that this conference was excellent! Bible centered teaching, preaching, and exhortation. Daytime/nighttime outreaches were well planned and timed. Fellowship with like minded brethren was greatly edifying. Looking forward to next year!”
~ Zachary (Ashland Ky)
“Wonderful conference, we only stayed for 1 full day, but just that day was worth the drive, the hotel, etc!!! Jesse, thank you for allowing me and my friends to not only join you in preaching, but allowing us to be an influence/speak at such a wonderful conference. Grateful for everyone we got to meet and talk to, looking forward to next year!”
~ Jonathan (College Station, Tx)
“The conference was a great opportunity to meet up with other like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ and to learn how to deal with police, hecklers, lukewarm Christians and more. Kyle gave a great talk on the importance of building disciples to carry on the message and to grow the kingdom. The time of fellowship was just the charge my batteries needed to help me be even bolder when I return home to preach. Thank you to all who put the event together, and to all the great people I got to meet.”
~ Buddy (North Carolina)
” I am new in the street preaching community and this conference to me was great. To be around people who have been open air preaching for many years and being able to learn from them and get to know their heart was both a blessing and edifying. So I would say even if your just getting started this conference was a great way to learn from others without having to go through what they did. From handling police to the lukewarm and learning that evangelism and discipleship should go hand in hand gave a solid foundation to start making Christ known in the open air. And also getting firsthand experience with outreaches and solid biblical teachings. True blessing looking forward to next year.”
~ Caleb (North Carolina)
“It was great to meet new open air preachers who are truly saved and love the Lord Jesus Christ and want to serve Him in the beauty of holiness. It was refreshing to be with brethren of like precious faith. Where no pretense was needed.”
~ Jim (Oklahoma)
“Being with men and women who are the on the front lines of the evangelistic front is alway encouraging. I came to the National Street Preaching Conference To learn from there experience and wisdom and heart for the lost. Received a fresh powerful burden of the Lord over the sins of the world seeing the hate in the huge crowd towards Jesus and his word. Praying that men and women will answer the call of Jesus Christ to Preach the Gospel in America and beyond. Come join the National Street Preaching Movement and take our cities back for God.”
~ Kyle (San Antonio, Tx)
“The National Street Preachers Conference was a great opportunity to be poured into and then have a chance to pour out again. Many conferences you attend are set up for you to sit back and learn but this one is set up to put into practice what it is you have just learned right away. This is a meeting filled with doers and not just hearers. It blessed me to see these Saints join together to reach the lost and to equip and counsel each other in wisdom and love. The guest speakers were excellent and the gospel preachers inspiring. Looking forward to next year when I can bring a group I am raising up from my church so they can experience the blessing I did. To God be the glory!”
~ Roger (Nacogdoches, Tx)
“It was an honor to be part of the first national street preachers conference. The Lord used the men in this conference to reawaken in me a burden for proclamation. As a young preacher the wisdom I can glean from these men is priceless. I’m taking back the things I learned into the church to raise up more preachers and to bring more people to the conference next year! Everyone with a desire for more of God should be at this conference.”
~ José (San Antonio, Tx)
Mark you calendars for
March 2019
for the next street preachers conference!
More information is forthcoming.
LET US KNOW IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN COMING
It will be held in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas.
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