Thursday, May 21, 2009

Today we knuckled down on door-to-door and open-air basics. Ron Hampton gave us an overview of priorities on the doors. “Find the one person that wants to keep going,” he said, as opposed to trying to get to multiple homes quickly.

Kevin Woytowich, one of our team leaders, reviewed some common questions on the doors and possible ways to answer them including everything from “God is not important to me” to “Everyone has their own religion.”

Tim Hood, previously a missionary in the south of Ireland for 10 years and another one of our team leaders, went over some dos and don’ts. Be perceptive as to their sincerity, he said. Try not to veer off track. Don’t be in a hurry but keep the conversation flowing. Ask questions and don’t monopolize the conversation.

We later got some practice time. Leaders posed as residents answering their doors.

Andrew Cockburn taught us how to preach a simple gospel message with a paint board and how to approach those who stop to listen. Tim added a rope trick that can serve as a teaser to the paint board message.

Today was lovely on the coast. It hardly rained but once in the evening.

After four days together, it’s tough to know we’ll split into three groups tomorrow and head to different parts of the Republic for the rest of our trip before we rejoin for the three-day Ireland tour at the end. Teams were announced tonight. We leave tomorrow after lunch. One group begins in Dublin, another in Waterford and the third, in Newcastle West, Co Limerick.

Morning session on door-to-door techniques.

Andrew Cockburn teaches us how to use a paint board to preach a gospel message in the open air.

David Wilson, missionary in Waterford, tells us his testimony after lunch.

Playing round robin before dinner.

Jewel Hobbs, Amy Deligdisch and Kevin Bibelhausen helping in the kitchen after lunch.

Kevin and Mylene Lavoie in the kitchen after lunch.


Danny and Pat Gleason from Shankill sharing their testimony after dinner.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

By now, we’ve all more or less adjusted to the fact that you don’t leave the building without an umbrella or at least a rain jacket. But having the sea on our doorstep more than makes up for the fickle weather.

We’ve yet to get right down to any active evangelism and are still learning the ropes, so-to-speak. One of the organizers and teachers here, Jim Van Dine, gave us some guidelines this morning on effective ways to witness. Steering us to the gospel of John, he suggested using the approach of that particular book in presenting the gospel on the doors. The word “believe” occurs in John 98 times. It clearly presents who Jesus Christ is and the gift of salvation He freely gives to those who receive it. “Jesus offers eternal life as a gift … Lead off with that,” he said, suggesting that even if someone cuts you off before you can finish, you still leave them with the most important idea.

He suggested steering away at least initially from anything the person has to do, and focusing on what Christ has done.

He also talked about avoiding what can be misleading or confusing terminology, such as “inviting Christ into your heart.”

In the afternoon, we had a group picture taken by Ron Hampton’s photographer son-in-law Jeremy, who is here visiting with his wife Meagan. We also continued with some labeling we started yesterday. There are 25,000 gospel magazines in all that need contact information labels on them. They will be used for distribution in counties Dublin, Waterford, Kilkenny and Limerick.

Three of our team members, Child Evangelism Fellowship veterans, ran through the Five-Day Club program from the CEF. The TnT team will be involved in child evangelism as part of this trip. We were taught the general format – memory verse, songs, Bible lesson etc. – and how to make it engaging for children.

Frank and Grace Carolan, who are native Irish and local missionaries in the Republic of Ireland, joined us for dinner and shared their testimonies. Grace shared how dire it was for her to leave her family’s Catholic faith around 20 years ago when she became a believer. Her father said he disowned her as his daughter.

Tomorrow, we go door-to-door.