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This past weekend we went on the 2nd annual Weekend Evangelism Road Trip (WERT). The mentality we adopted for the weekend was that we were fulltime missionaries–we were to talk to everyone we could about the gospel of the kingdom and the cross. It was an incredible and exhausting time of adventure, mourning, conversation, and rejoicing. I thought I’d share some of my personal memories of the trip and I was hoping that any of the other team members (there were eight of us) could add their stories in the comments.

Friday evening (approx 9:30pm) started with street evangelism on Thayer St in downtown Providence, RI. I was partnered with Sal and we got to have some great conversation with two 18-year-olds from Arizona. We were shocked at how nonchalant they were about eternal issues. They said, “Why should I think about what happens after death when I can just think about the here and now?” Then a group of girls approached and we ended up having a five way conversation which was a bit tricky. Next Sal and I talked to two young adults, a Catholic and a Jew. The Jewish man was intrigued by our belief in a coming Messiah to establish the Olam Ha Ba (the age to come). We told him that we believed that Jesus was the one who would come and do all the things we both hoped for.

Thanks to Victor and his indefatigable wife, Jess, we were hosted with style at their house in Warwick, RI and rested up sufficiently to embark on a solid day of evangelism non-stop. First we walked to the bus station and took the bus into Providence (approx 40 min). On the bus were three people who all got an ear full (even the sleeping guy). Once we hit the main bus station we spent about an hour or more preaching the gospel one on one to a wide range of people. I spoke with a middle-aged man named Adam who has epilepsy. He was interested to hear that in the kingdom all will be made whole. This ray of hope brightened him up a bit and we had a great conversation. Then Chad and I spoke with a young man who was working for NPR and some other companies to do interviews that would be cataloged in the Library of Congress. He was the typical “no one is right or wrong” pluralist. At one point he accused us of having an agenda when we approached him. To this we did not deny but confessed that it was out of compassion that we spoke to him because if he did not repent and believe then he would not be ok in the judgment. He actually appreciated our conversation after that and Chad shared a bit of his testimony about how he tried to prove the Bible false and ended up believing instead.

Next, we took a train to Boston which took about an hour. I spoke with a very sweet woman named Dawn who had muscular dystrophy. Since she was a Seventh Day Adventist, she already believed in the kingdom and that dead people are asleep until the resurrection. We spoke at length about Jesus and his nature. It was a delight to speak the Scriptures with someone who had familiarity with them and we reasoned together that Jesus was a human being who was born supernaturally. I was able to encourage her a bit in living a radically obedient life and we exchanged contact information and I hope to continue our conversation.

Once the train arrived we took the subway to the Boston Commons where there were hundreds of people milling around in the park. JohnO and I spoke with a Haitian gentleman who was on the verge of making a commitment to God. He was a little afraid of the risk involved in making a decision so big. JohnO really encouraged him that he must take the first step and then God would honor that. Just prior to this Josh and I spoke with an electrician named Keith who had never encountered Christianity outside of the Catholicism he was exposed to as a child. He was struck by the radical lifestyle to which Jesus calls us. We spoke for quite a while and were able to share the gospel with him. Josh exchanged contact info and is planning on following up with him. Also at this time both Chad and Josh did some open air preaching which I will let them describe since I was at the other side of the park at the time.

After approximately four hours in the park we took the train back to Providence to attend “water fire.” At this event the city lights fires on metal pedestals in the middle of the canal running through Providence. Chad and I spoke with a Wiccan who self identified as a Pagan, named Ozzie. He was very kind and it was a pleasure to talk at length with him. Chad was able to challenge him to repent in light of the clear idolatry commands in Scripture. Ozzie appreciated our listening to him talk about his faith and for the first time really considered Christianity apart from Catholicism. He had a really rough life and one could tell just from his appearance that Wiccanism wasn’t helping him. A little later we encountered a Hindu group who were utterly unconcerned about anything beyond this present life. The gentleman speaking to Erica actually said that even if he was wrong and there is a coming kingdom that he still didn’t care. He spoke to us for a while and told us that he believed that all of the different religions were just emphasizing different aspects of the same God.

At about 11:00pm we left water fire and went home to Victor’s for a much needed night’s rest. Sunday morning we attended Living Faith Christian Church where Pam Bzdyra shared on the absurdity of life without God. The message motivated us and encouraged us greatly. After lunch our team went to Rodger William’s State Park where we again had the privilege of speaking of God’s glory and kingdom. I was able to speak with Mika, a college student at Johnson and Whales studying hotel management. He was a remarkably consistent atheist who said that there were no objective morals (even rape or murder are not actually wrong). We had a long invigorating conversation about the existence of God, science, the veracity of the Bible, the jewishness of Jesus (Mika was brought up Jewish), and the coming age.

Over all the weekend was electrifying and exhausting. It was such a joy to have so many engaging conversations and to be able to present the gospel in all its beauty and strength. Some people believed the gospel of the kingdom, some people said, “I will hear you again on this matter,” and some people scoffed or argued against it. But the gospel was preached and praise be to God who is worthy to have one more person in his kingdom with him forever.