What can one man do?
We were taught to do this when Dale was Senior Pastor of New Hope Community Church in Clackamas Oregon. I began by being a Lay Pastor. I won awards for my enthusiasm.
I wanted to write a girls name in the sand at a church Beach retreat. I asked the Holy Spirit, he said write my name first and you can write hers later. I witnessed to about 180 children and adults on the Oregon Coast that day about 20 years ago. That broke my heart open to public ministry. Some time later I will go into how I got to where I am now but for the sake of time I will just reflect on the more recent.
About a month before October 1st 2006, I took my children out to Market & Lancaster, a very busy intersection I use to hate and we prayed for the vision Lord God Almighty was giving me to reach the lost. Two weeks before that date the Holy Spirit said "Go", I had waited 16 years for that and had earlier in the year asked the Lord God Almighty if he was ever going to send me.
I said my good byes the following week at the church I had served including as a Deacon for a while and the next week, on October 1, 2006, one week before the Amish School Masacre I started preaching from the corner of Market & Lancaster in Salem Oregon.
For the first year and a half I didn't miss a Sunday morning 2.5 hr service. In 2011 I reluctantly began a transition from Sunday AM services to Sunday PM as my wife Julie and our two miracle children (we were infertile 5 years) Natasha 13 & Isaac 8 switched to a larger church.
Just recently I preached my 200 message from the street corner. In August 2011 I began video taping some of the messages with the church' new hardhat mounted video camera system. I hope to soon post video to You Tube.
So much ministry has happened. So many stories. Of those who comment 50% for ministry, 50% against. Fall of 2010 I did some honk surveys, the first was "should there be a mosque at ground zero" 42 said no and 2 said yes. Some might say, what is your ministry about, surveys? No. Just for a season, I learned some things. Some people consider their gun to be their God. Lots of people carrying their gun and admitting to it.
By the end of 2006, I purchased a 4'x6' dry erase board as the main Bible message, which 3/4 of intersection can see. I use Jumbo dry erase pens. I have 6-8 lines of message. It has been a discipling system. I hang a 2'x3' sign on a power pole and another on a stand with an abbreviated version of main message. I have a log of all but one message I preached.
Another time I can go over the number of times the police arrived and the time in 2007 I was almost arrested for preaching on Hell with a burning flare for 2.5 hours.
Julie still has a hard time that the Lord Jesus Christ would send me to the street corner to preach by myself. If you look on You Tube, you will find their is a main single person called to be a hearld to each main city as an Evangelist. I just happen to be that for Salem Oregon.
Can you tell I love to remember and write?
I walk the intersection clockwise 3 times, praying that 5 legions of Angels would take up the battle in the intersection. I learned to do that when I asked the Lord God Almighty many years ago if I could take the angels from my property to the street corner about a mile away. Well I forgot to pray them back onto my property.
The next Sunday, while we were asleep someone came onto our property and stacked all our children' belongings and our yard equipment into piles to haul away but one of our house Angels scared them away. We were shocked by the sight of the stuff, even a wagon full. What had we done wrong? That is when I remembered what I had done the week before. Later that day we prayed them back onto our property.
So it takes about 15 min. to set up. 15 min. to pray. Then about a third of remaining time to worship, I hold a flag on a flag pole that was made for me at a campaign (men's retreat) at the church I left. I sing out of 3 hymn books I love, my favorite hymn book is "The Pilot" from the 1920's, I use a zip lock bag to protect this worn out book that is a Judson Press hymnal. The other two thirds, I put the flag pole down and I sing from memory and use 2 more 2'x3' signs to give a secondary message. The first of these is an easier to understand part and while I show the traffic only on my side of the street, when I stop they get the second sign, I return to the first sign when the left turn signal comes on.
My original vision was to train others to do like wise. That has never happened.
I witness to about 750 people in cars per hour.
Right now I go to the street corner twice a month, when ever I am in a church building my heart is for the lost out at Market & Lancaster. A long time ago and on Google maps this corner was named Badger Corner, I found that out a few years ago.
Besides being a husband of nearly 19 years, a father of 2, developing vegetable and flower sales in the Spring (last 2 years), doing light pruning, mole and gopher trapping www.effientlydone.com
I wouldn't have the above domain if it hadn't been for www.BoldBiblicalScholarship.com where I have my 3 domains attached to. Everything I do leads back to ministry. My 3rd domain www.howtoparentamidstcomplexity.com is for my unpublished book, "How to Parent, Amidst Complexity" that was considered at 15 publishers between 2005 & 2006.
That went on the back burner as I turned to street corner ministry. The Holy Spirit told me to pursue it once again in 2011, I have not promoted it yet. It answers 3 questions: When do children become accountable for sin, when do children become adults and should children be Baptized. I didn't realize a denomination (I hate that word) actually believes what I wrote already. The Catholic and Protestant churches have been arguing over the issue for 480+ years.
I am also active on the following sites.
As a Precinct Committee Person for the Marion County Republican Party & House District Coordinator of PCP's. The election cycle for PCP's is going on now Feb. 1-March 6th file form SEL105 from Oregon Secretary of State web site for your party if Democrat or Republican. See my blogging at www.marioncountygop.org
www.meetup.com I have yet to get a visitor there in 8 months of recruiting my Salem group name is "Mazama effects".
www.twitter.com "floraspec" I have an Associates Degree in Landscape Management and work for Rasmussen Spray Service www.rasmussenspray.com. I have been an ODA licensed applicator since 1985.
www.facebook.com Tom Chereck Jr.
www.freedomconnector.com Administrator for 3 Marion County Groups.
I also am the County Coordinator in Marion County for Cry Out America & for Governor's Prayer Team. I have run for House Dist. 22 as a Republican in 2008, 2010 & 2012 and have yet to win but I keep learning and hope to one day help other candidates win.
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