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Sharing Christ in Santa Monica! About Operation Santa Monica Operation Santa Monica consisted of six-weeks of staffing an information booth about the Christian faith right in the middle of the 3rd Street promenade in Santa Monica, California during the summer of 2002. This is a place where many people walk around and visit the shops and cafés. There are many street entertainers as well. The other part of my ministry was training the sponsoring church in evangelism and apologetics each Sunday. Throughout this process, I began providing some consulting to the church's pastor on how to begin an intentional disciple-making ministry. We ended up collaborating one Sunday for a "tag-team" teaching on Sunday morning. The transcript is here. If you would like to start a Jesus booth in your community, you can find instructions for building one here: www.jesusbooth.com.
 Operation Santa Monica Ministry Log. July 10 - I filled the pulpit at the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church of Santa Monica. I was invited to preach as the pastor was out of town. I preached on Zechariah 12:10-11 on the Marks of Genuine Conversion. The three elements that mark a genuine conversion in this passage are: (1) It is initiated by God's regenerating work; (2) It is based on faith in God's Messiah; (3) It is accompanied by godly sorrow and repentance. This message is relevant to believers and non-believers. It would also be a good tool for Jewish evangelism since it deals the post-exilic era of Israel and the end times conversion of the Jewish remnant. JESUS BOOTH NEWS Please pray for the following people. These are some of the most promising conversations I've had down there. July 21 - Well, I've been conducting Operation Santa Monica for 2 weeks now. It has been a real blessing. There are so many people walking up and down the promenade and so much variety of people who come to the booth. Of course, there are those who are scoffers and just want to ask silly questions. But, there are also many people who are open and I have shared Christ with Jews, Muslims, atheists, and others. For example, I spent over an hour talking with Nagi (pronounced "Na-jee"). He is from Egypt and is a Coptic (Orthodox) Christian, however he had never talked with an Evangelical and had no idea what the Gospel is. I gave him a New Testament and some other literature and invited him to church. He came the following Sunday and heard a sermon on the reality of Hell (when is the last time you heard a sermon on Hell?). He seemed very open and showed interest in returning. We had plans for lunch afterwards if he came again, but alas we did not see him in church today. Another young man I talked with is Terrell. He is from Michigan and has been in California for 2 months. He is homeless and jobless. I spend about an hour with him and he too was very open and seemed to have an interest in Christ. He only had $4 on him. I gave him some money for food in addition to a Bible and invited him to church. However, he didn't make it today. One more person I'll share with you is an older Jewish lady. She was very irrate about how Christians try to push Jesus on to the Jewish people. I shared Scripture with her about who Jesus is and the purpose of God's law for about 45 minutes. She reacted very strongly to just about every statement I made. But I am encouraged because she was not indifferent. I told her that I nor any other Christian can convert her (she really liked that). But I said she will have to study the Scriptures for herself and decide what she will do with Jesus. I told her that only God can open her understanding and bring her new life. It sure seems like God is dealing with her. Well, there are so many more I could mention. But I will say that I have witnessed for Christ more in these two weeks than in the entire last year or so. I have given out countless tracts, New Testaments, Gospels of John, and other literature. Many have heard about the Christian message and I still have 4 weeks to go! Also, the evangelism training is going well. About 12-15 people stay after the Sunday morning worship service for the hour-long training. So far we looked at the Great Commission, and Overcoming Our Fears. Upcoming topics are Presenting the Gospel, Using the Law in Evangelism, the Biblical Christian Worldview, and Apologetic Methodology (presuppositionalism). Santa Monica is a very diverse postmodern community and very unchurched. I believe it is a preview of what the rest of the country will soon become. The spiritual oppression is very strong. I appreciate your prayers for God to bless His Word as it is proclaimed to people from all over the world and from every conceivable background. Glory to God alone! August 17 - Amy and Angela are two nominally Catholic teenagers who stopped by the booth this week. Angela was the skeptic with the questions and, as I answered, Amy would say things like, "That's a good explanation" or, "That makes sense." I was able to speak with them for at least 30 minutes and go through the gospel very clearly with them. I gave them both Gospel of John booklets, Bible study booklets on Genesis, and a couple of tracts. They were both appreciative of the information. Attila is a young man from Hungary who claimed to an atheist, but often fell into God-talk. We spoke for almost 2 hours. He has a postmodern mindset, believing that we cannot know absolute truth. However, he kept on making truth claims that I would point out to him to show his inconsistency. He finally "got it" when I explained God's way of justifying sinners by grace through faith. He didn't say whether he accepted God's gift, but it seemed like he had made a breakthrough in his understanding of Christianity. If fact, when it clicked for him, he exclaimed, "That's not fair! That's too easy!" This is a very positive sign! Most people, as he did at the beginning, think they understand Christianity. However, too often they don't and they don't realize what it is they are rejecting. I gave him a Gospel of John, a tract, and an article I wrote on why I believe the Bible is the Word of God. Robert is a homeless man who is a professing believer. I've spoken with him a couple of times now at the promenade. He says his dream is to preach the gospel in that area. I've been giving him some literature and explaining how to present the gospel biblically. He doesn't seem to have any mental problems, but does have some very crippling physical problems in his arms and feet. August 23 - It's funny, my last night at the booth I talked with the Muslim guy I talked with my very first time in the booth (he's in the photo above). He's the guy in the photo on the main page of this web site. I really challenged him on his inconsistency as a Muslim to say that the Bible is corrupted, but then trying to quote certain pet verses to me. I told him that Jesus will be his judge and that he was twisting the Scriptures to deny Jesus' deity. I gave him a booklet that's a compilation of OT and NT Scriptures that presents the Gospel. It was written with Muslims in mind. He said he'd read it. Also, I talked and prayed with a man named Rick who said he was a struggling, backslidden Christian and is married to an unbelieving wife who is nominally Catholic (Gladys). I encouraged him from the Word of God to begin a daily intake of God's Word and to take every thought captive in obedience to Christ. I also encouraged him to find a Bible-teaching church where both he and his wife can come under the sound of the Gospel. I also encouraged him to begin reading the Bible together with his wife because "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom 10:17). He was very encouraged and said he would like to contact me in the future. So, now that my time in the booth is over, I have mixed feelings. Part of me is relieved that I will not have to come home at midnight anymore or deal with scoffers who love to mock and blaspheme the Lord. But another part is going to really miss all the good conversations the Lord has given me with people who listened to the Word of God. I haven't even reported on half them. Only the Lord knows what people are doing with all the Bibles, tracts, Gospels of John, and other literature that has been given out. The Gospel has been sown in many hearts and, just like Jesus' parable of the sower (Matt 13), time will tell if it has fallen by the wayside, on stony ground, among thorns, or on good soil.
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