Garage Door

January 31, 2009. Day Thirty-One. Saturday. Something happened with our garage door on Saturday; out of my range of mechanical understanding, so I called in the garage door man. He repaired it and I stood and briefly talked to him about eternity and left him with a tract.

Realtor

January 30, 2009. Day Thirty. Friday. I took my wife to Starbucks in the afternoon and one of our former realtor's walked in, John, and so we talked to him for awhile. I asked him how business was going and he said he wished it was going better so he could take a trip to Italy. We talked a little while longer and he mentioned Greece. My daughter is doing a history project on Greece right now. We told him. Then I told him that some of the New Testament was written to churches in Greece. I gave him a tract and told him, "We're not going to be here forever, John. This is something you need to consider." He nodded his head, "yes."

Parents

January 29, 2009. Day Twenty-Nine. Thursday. I went over to my parent's house to help them with something and I gave a tract to one of their neighbors.

Pinole Shores

January 28, 2009. Day Twenty-Eight. Wednesday. I drove the van again for teen evangelism. We usually fill up a fifteen passenger van and others go out separately. We come back for supper afterwards, then Bible study and prayer. It's a nice night.

I was with Julia (my daughter), Kim, and Griselda. We went to 12 doors in Pinole at Pinole shores, our groups covering all of Windrose Circle. We talked to a few people. We talked to Thomas, who said he was saved, but believed he could lose his salvation. I talk to many people like this. I worked my way through several eternal security verses, ending with a warning really from Galatians 5:1-4. He said he might come to church sometime. I asked the girls if they thought he was saved. They didn't think so.

We talked to Noah and Tubela. I asked the latter if he was saved, knew he had eternal life. He wasn't sure. Noah said he was and that he was talking to the latter about salvation.

I found out that Jenisha had tried to come to church on Sunday but got lost and couldn't find it. She has been working on her Bible study with the Bible I gave her. She was going to come on Sunday, she said. A lady from our church and her daughter went to visit her tonight. She was happy to see them and agreed to get together with her. Michele, who we baptized on Sunday, was in church tonight, and she responded well to the preaching, prayer, and fellowship.

Back Door

January 27, 2009. Day Twenty-seven. Tuesday. I gave a tract to my backdoor neighbor, the one across the fence.

Late Door

January 26, 2009. Day Twenty-six. Monday. After supper, I picked up some tracts and my New Testament to go out, but it was late, 8:10pm. I went to a neighborhood that I'd been knocking on doors. It was very dark and seemed very late. I rang the first doorbell and the person inside wouldn't open the door, but agreed to let me leave a tract. I thought too late a start, so I got in the car and scooted back home.

Few Houses Down

January 25, 2009. Day Twenty-five. Sunday. I gave a tract to a neighbor after getting back all day at church. Two were baptized that you've heard about on this blog. Jenisha didn't show up, but we'll be patient and see what happened.

Orchestra Meeting

January 24, 2009. Day Twenty-Four. Saturday. I'm on the board of an orchestra. I coordinated part of our mid-season parent meeting. Afterward we had some time to mill around and talk to various ones. I talked to John and then Morgan about the Lord.

Other Side of the Court

January 23, 2009. Day Twenty-three. Friday. I got a call from Jenisha today. She got the Bible and the study. She said she will do the study and come on Sunday. I gave her a call today to remind her. I called her today to remind her. You can pray for her. Last Sunday during preaching Michelle was obviously very convicted. She came forward at the invitation. Renee talked to her for an hour afterward and she made a profession of faith. This was someone that Marlowe and Becky had talked to door-to-door. She wants to be baptized. We'll baptize her tomorrow. Pearl's son has pancreatic cancer. David went to visit him Tuesday and he made a profession of faith. David followed up to talk to him about baptism. He wants to be baptized.

We live on a court with twelve other town houses. Right across the street are twelve others. I walked to the other side of the court to give a neighbor a tract.

Follow-Up

January 22, 2009. Day Twenty-two. Thursday. Every day is different for me. I know about how it is going to go. I spoke to a couple of unbelieving parents in our school who are lost to testify for Christ. I drove to Jenisha's house with my son. I had called her. She wasn't home, so I dropped by a Bible, a pre-discipleship study, and a short letter. She had made a profession of faith. I'm following up.

Alex

January 21, 2009. Day Twenty-One. Wednesday. I drove the van for teen evangelism again tonight. We have 6-8 groups out. I had two teen-aged young ladies with me, Alanna and Joyce. We went to 16 homes, distributing a tract at each door. We had conversations with two people. One was very angry. She said, "Take us off your list!" I said, "We don't have a list." She said, "The Jehovah's Witnesses do and they take me off their list." I said, "Can I give you one of these?" "No!" "I'm just being nice to you!" She blew her lid and slammed the door. I feel sorry for her. This isn't untypical here in California.

We talked to Alex. He said he liked Buddhism. He was Hispanic. He grew up Catholic and went to Catholic school, but he was a scientist. I have something I say to men like him. I said it. I'll share that with you sometime.

Across the Street

January 20, 2009. Day Twenty. Tuesday. I have talked to our Asian neighbors across the street a few times about the Lord. I gave them a tract today with an invitation for an evangelistic Bible study.

IHOP

January 19, 2009. Day Nineteen. Monday. Today was the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and I didn't venture into the world from the house except to take the family to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) with a gift card. I left a tract with the waiter.

BART

January 18, 2009. Day Eighteen. Sunday. I rode the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train and gave a tract to a man there.

Long Conversations

January 17, 2009. Day Seventeen. Saturday. I talked to James about salvation. I spoke to Lynn about salvation.

McDonalds

January 16, 2009. Day Sixteen. Friday. I got through my day without running into any unsaved people or going door-to-door, so I stopped by McDonalds for a small fry for the sole purpose of talking to two people and giving them tracts.

The Ref

January 15, 2009. Day Fifteen. Thursday. I knew my day was full. I expected one contact at least with an unbeliever. I started thinking about it well before I reached that point. I gave the referee a tract after our basketball game.

Apartment #4

January 14, 2009. Day Fourteen. Wednesday. I drove the van as usual for Wednesday evangelism. I had three high school teen girls with me: Alanna, Griselda, and Clarissa. We went to some apartments in the city of San Pablo. The first apartment, #4, was on the upstairs left of building 2300. I rang the doorbell. A woman asked who was there. I introduced myself and told why I was there: "I'm Kent Brandenburg, pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, and we're introducing our church, letting people know who we are and what we believe." She asked us to wait. We waited. She came to the door, a young, black woman, about mid twenties. She had a four year old daughter. She had just moved up from Oakland. She wasn't attending any church.

I segued to the gospel with a means that I often use. She wanted to listen. She was eager. I explained the gospel to her. We spent about an hour and fifteen minutes preaching. She received Christ. I showed her some verses that would give her assurance. She gave us her phone number. I asked if she would like a Bible study. Yes. I explained about baptism. I went through some other verses with her. Pray for Jenisha.

Next Door

January 13, 2009. Day Thirteen. Tuesday. I talked briefly to my neighbors while out front of the house and gave them a tract. I've talked to them many times.

Turkey

January 12, 2009. Day Twelve. Monday. I was with the whole 23 member family all day. This was the day we had planned to be together around my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary. We left home at 9:30am to head to San Francisco. I looked for evangelistic opportunities all day. At the parking area, I walked to little hut to talk to the attendant. I gave him a tract and began talking to him about the Lord. I found out he had just moved here from Turkey. Later in the day, I walked to the window of a trucker who was making a delivery. It looked like he was sitting and waiting, so I went to his window and handed him a tract and asked him if he had time, to read that. I did the same thing with a family that was sitting in the car in a parked position.

San Pablo Ave.

January 11, 2008. Day 11. Sunday. I preached on Sunday AM and PM, and in between we got a family picture taken with the 23 members of my parents and their children and their grandchildren, then had a big meal together. I was looking and praying for an evangelism opportunity. I took it when I had it. I talked to a man on San Pablo Ave. in Pinole, walking to my car. It was brief, but I challenged him and gave him a tract.

Stanford Rejection

January 10, 2009. Day 10. Saturday. I was walking quickly across the Stanford campus (my son was there with a trombone thing and I gave the ride) down in Palo Alto, convicted about evangelizing. People speed around that place with very little lingering (at least on this occasion). I pulled out a tract, offered it to a lady, and gave her an invitation to salvation that she abruptly rejected.

Don the Limo Man

January 9, 2009. Day Nine. Friday. This was my parent's 50th wedding anniversary and I knew early in the day, as we prepared for a big surprise for them, I would be able to talk to the limo driver (and owner). I talked a little to Don, when I gave him the tract. When the proceedings were over, we walked outside and one of the neighbors next to the church grounds got our attention on the other side of the fence. Behind one of our buildings, someone had ditched a large portion of someone's belongings in the night. They called the sheriff and so I talked to our neighbors, Carlos and Grace, and the sheriff's deputy, and gave them all tracts. The sheriff bagged the belongings, I'm sure prepared to return them to the owner and to be a help in apprehending some thief.

Two Stores

January 8, 2009. Day Eight. Thursday. In two stores I went into, running errands, I passed out three tracts, talking to one man about salvation.

Parking Lot

January 7, 2009. Day Seven. Wednesday. Normally I drive the van for door-to-door, but I had a couple of appointments. However, I gave a tract to a Chinese mother and her two children as I briefly talked to her in a parking lot.

Shell Station

January 6, 2009. Day Six. Tuesday. I talked to a man and gave him a tract while gassing up at the Shell station.

Wing Stop

January 5, 2009. Day Five. Monday. I was running all day. I won't get into it, but I gave a tract to the Wing Stop register lady. I saw her walk away with it in her hand.

One Salvation Talk

January 4, 2009. Day Four. Sunday. I talked to a boy, who I don't believe is converted, about his salvation. I also preached twice for church. Revelation on Sunday morning and 2 Samuel on Sunday afternoon in this case, because we had a meal on the grounds between services.

Breakfast Burrito with Bonus Buildings

January 3, 2009. Day Three. Saturday. I went to men's prayer time. We went to McDonald's afterwards. I handed out tracts on the way in and to people on the inside. I talked to a man that visited our church over 20 years ago, invited him back with a tract. Later my wife, daughter, and I knocked on 17 doors and talked to Amber, Chuck, Cindy, and Shanelle. One was AME, another Church of God of Christ, a third Church of Living God, and the fourth attended a Baptist church 20 miles away. The other doors we left tracts and brochures.

At Door: Come Back Later

January 2, 2009. Day Two. Friday. I get up in the morning thinking about this goal, so I'm praying about it and looking for opportunities all day. Nothing opened up today, because I was inside working. I had to get cleaned up to go somewhere. I picked up my NT, which sat on a small stack of tracts. I drove to a neighborhood in the town I live. I determined to do one of two things. I would keep going until I ran out of tracts or until I got to preach the entire gospel to one person. I talked to Stacy, Ramone, and Raquenell. Stacy and Raquenell said they were saved. I don't talk to many people who either say they're saved or even know the term "saved." Usually people aren't saved and/or they don't know that terminology. I would have pressed it further with both of them, but I was hoping to get to someone tonight with whom I could preach the gospel.

Ramone was a mid-twenties young black man. He said he didn't have a church. He said he had never attended a church. He said that he believed the Bible was true. I asked what he thought happened when someone died. He said they face God. I asked if I could show him from the Bible what it said about eternal life. He said, "Not right now, but he wanted information, if I had it." He agreed that people either went to heaven or hell. He was friendly. I gave him the information. I asked him if he knew that I wasn't a Jehovah's Witness. He said, "No." I told him I wasn't and then what was the difference. I gave him our church brochure and tract. I'll be coming back later sometime.

Grocery Store: Tract

January 1, 2009. Day One. I went to bed at 4am and got up at 11am. I ate a bowl of frosted mini-wheats. Those have been a find, by the way. You find out usually late morning how important they've been to you. I spent some time on a project at home for a little while and then my family and I drove to a church member's house. I was there until 5:30pm. Let me tell you one of the many benefits of this goal of mine for the year.

You are thinking about evangelism. You think about opportunities. You pray about God opening a door. On my way home, I was praying for what I should do. I looked at the bright windows of people at home as I drove through my neighborhood. I pulled into the garage. We all got out. I walked into the kitchen with my wife. She mentioned that we needed milk. I put my coat back on and drove the one minute to Lucky's grocery store. I bought one gallon of milk and went through the self-check. I saw the young black lady, working alone at the self-check aisle. I handed her a gospel tract. I smiled and said, "Here's something for you to read when you have the time." She smiled, took the tract, and said, "Thank you, sir."

When I got home, my son was on the computer in the garage. He asked, "What happened?" I told him what I just told you. I said, "Why do you ask?" He said, "Julia told me." He smiled and then continued, "You're going to have some amazing stories this year." This is going to influence my family as well.

One tract. Let's see what tomorrow holds.