Takin it to the Streets

     Once we made it to Thailand I finally felt like I was in Asia. No one speaks English, everyone bows when they greet each other, and I can’t read any of the signs, labels, menus, or books. It is somewhat comforting to finally get to a culture where most of the comforts I have had this year are gone. We arrived at Phang Nga, a city about an 1 hour north of Phuket, at a ministry called Eagles Rest. This ministry aims to give peace, rest and retreat to so many Asian pastors that are burnt out or excommunicated from their churches because of their past. http://www.eagles-rest.info/ Right now they are in transition as they are praying into finding new land to build their ministry.

While we spend most of our time in Phang Nga, last week we got the opportunity to go down to Phuket and help one of the local churches as they did some outreach. The Thai people love New Year’s celebrations as they celebrate the Thai, Chinese, and American New Year. Since the streets would be filled with thousands of tourists and locals, the church saw this as a great opportunity to proclaim the message of Christ, and asked our help.

Now, if you’re like me, when you hear the words “street evangelism” your first reaction is to find a rock to throw at the guy holding the megaphone and sign telling everyone they are going to Hell. But don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. God has showed me that there are some really cool ways to preach the word on the street without immediately turning others off. Two of the ways our team decided to minister were through worshipping and skits.

As we walked outside to begin worshipping, laser lights started shining on the stage across from us and the Black Eyed Peas started blaring to the point where it was hard to hear my own thoughts. Nevertheless, we worshipped. Could people hear us ? Probably not, but that wasn’t the point. Surprisingly 5 white people singing at the top of their lung regardless of the noise drew more of a crowd than I thought it would. And even though I would open my eyes to find people posing by my side with peace signs in front of their friends camera as if I was a wax figure at a museum, I believe that worship and the Joy it brings is contagious and causes people to think rather than just watch.

After our worship time we girded our loins and planned out our skit. Now, if you don’t know our team it is safe to say that acting and doing skits is not our, how should I say, forte. But thanks to Ginger, the only one on the team with a flicker of confidence in this matter, we pushed through and began. I’ll admit I felt like a complete idiot standing out in front of hundreds of people passing by, but I was pleasantly surprised by the results.