Street Stories - A Ringside Seat To Over 4 Decades Of Taking Jesus To The Streets Of The World

Once again, we sought the direction of the Lord. As we prepared for our last day of ministry in Haiti, our goal was to go preach in the worst area of Port-au-Prince. Back in 1981, when I was just beginning to walk in my calling as a street preacher, I read a quote by Ian Thomas that drastically changed my perspective on preaching the Gospel. Ian Thomas wrote, “I am recovering the claim that JESUS WAS NOT CRUCIFIED IN A CATHEDRAL BETWEEN TWO CANDLES, BUT ON A CROSS BETWEEN TWO THIEVES; on the town garbage heap; …the kind of place where cynics talk smut, thieves curse and soldiers’ gamble. Because that is where He died and that is what He died about… That is where churchmen ought to be, and what churchmen should be about!” As our ministry team had traveled throughout the perimeters of Port-au-Prince over the last several days, we had noticed a Police Checkpoint that was the hub of activity. The checkpoint was in a major part of the city where three roads crisscrossed. The police, UN Soldiers and gang lords, drug lords and criminals all seemed to intersect at this cosmopolitan corner. Every time we went near this intersection it was clear to everyone that this was the worst corner in town. Ministering for Jesus on the streets is a bit like fighting on the front lines. This corner of the city was definitely the front lines of the battle against the works of darkness. The devil definitely had a strong foothold there.

Our work for the Lord is to invade the darkness.

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