Our time has been spent ministering in Byron Bay Australia. It is a coastal town and is full of travelers, backpackers, and is a popular holiday destination. The area is very open to us sharing what we believe. Maybe too open, to the point that they construct their spirituality based on all aspects of different religions that they like and just avoid the ones that don’t appeal to them. We encountered a lot of people that believe in karma and good works, people that practice Hare Krishna and state that they believe in Jesus but they also believe in other gods and do not believe that He is the ONLY way. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Our ministry has consisted of visiting the light house where people who visit go to pray to their gods. We split up into our teams to cover the area in prayer and gathered together to sing the doxology which was a powerful moment. The days were spent evangelizing in different ways from literally just walking up to people and initiating conversations, to volleyball on the beach to break the ice, offering hair braiding and henna and engaging in conversations while people received whatever service. I was with my team leader Liz at one point and she is very artistic and talented, she was offering free henna which she had never done before but you would never know that by looking at her work. We met 2ladies having a girls weekend and wanted to get henna. As Liz was doing it we began getting to know them and their stories and sharing ours. They were very impressed by what we were during but made it clear that they did not believe and weren’t religious. To finish their henna Liz asked if she could just add a cross and whenever the looked down at it, they would remember they are loved. They were both agreeable to that. They were also receptive to prayer and each gave a prayer request. I have started a journal for keeping track of prayer requests of people we meet to actually remain praying for them. 1John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
Our last night in Byron Bay we partnered with YWAM (youth with a mission) for pancakes and chai in the park. We had our musically inclined squadmates singing and playing music, mixing secular songs and worship songs and people just sat and listened. Then we literally made and gave away free pancakes and chai tea to everyone who stopped by, which naturally lead into conversations of why we would do this for free… JESUS! I began my night making and serving the chai tea, where I feel comfortable, serving and showing love and offering free Bibles to those who were interested. As the night progressed I felt God answering my prayer for boldness and to be used and I ventured out into the crowd and found two young girls sitting and talking and asked if I could join them. I began asking them about their lives and when the opportunity to ask about God come up I took it. They said where they are from religion is not a present thing. There is not a lot of churches and the only people they know who go to church are old people. One admitted that she is interested in learning about different religions and hearing what different people believe and asked what I believe. Thanks Jesus for making this an easy opportunity to share. They were receptive to what I had to say and said they would think about it. I told them I would be praying for them and the were actually excited about that thought that someone they just met would care enough to pray for them. Their names are in m prayer journal and will continue to be on my heart.
