I'm going to break this down a bit...

Ok, so after talking it over with my wife, I decided to break these evangelism outings into more bitesize chunks of information.

While it may be easier for me to just write down everything that I experience in one blog post, it certainly is not manageable for the reader. I myself know how my eyes immediately hurt when I see a huge article or blog post. I might skim it but definitely will not read for content.

So from now on, I will try to make this a more daily/weekly posting in smaller bits, rather than all at once, once a month. Praise the Lord...

Recap - Outing #4, February 4th

On our 4^th outing, it was me, Tom, and Andrew. I think previously I promised to start having photos, however, after discussing it with all who were involved, we decided against it, for a number of reasons. We do not want to make this seem trivial or like a game to those who see us, or some kind of scavenger hunt. We also do not want to promote ourselves personally, which is why I have decided not to list anyone’s last name on here unless it becomes necessary for some reason.

Our trip this night was particularly power packed with the authority of the Church. We received a commissioning by Father Lewis, a well known priest in our diocese, and Auxiliary Bishop Deshotel. They both prayed over us before we left for the DART. It was awesome!

This time out I experienced my first utter rejection. As soon as we got up to the platform, I found a young Asian woman who was holding a bicycle, waiting to get on the red line. This was an immediate conversation starter since it was in the 30’s that night and way too cold for anyone but the toughest of the tough to be biking. I started talking to her and found out she was a Buddhist, but wasn’t sure if she really believed any of it. Her whole family was Buddhist, and their tradition was to let the children choose whether to be a part of it once they were of age. She had not made her decision yet and said she did not plan on making one. I asked her what she knew of Buddhism, and she knew really nothing at all. I told her what I knew of Buddhism (impersonal, no God, seeking to escape suffering through some higher awareness) and how Christ showed us through His humanity that He is a personal God who loves us unto death. I said that maybe she couldn’t make a decision because nothing in her family’s faith had captured her heart. But the craziest thing happened. She did not care one bit! Not only that, but she did not really know anything at all about Jesus (very strange for an American) and said that there was no difference between being a Buddhist and a Christian. As I tried to explain the very clear difference, she started to look really uncomfortable and kind of stopped paying attention and then told me that there was no point in choosing a religion since religion only starts wars. I explained that Jesus told us to love our enemies and that for the Church war is seen as an incredibly undesirable last resort. But she had checked out, and so I said goodbye to her and moved on.

As I was speaking to that woman, Tom and Andrew spoke with Roy (notice how they remember names and I cannot). Roy was a fallen away Catholic (we find tons of these as you’ll see) who still very joy filled and had a lot of hope within him. He had a lot of concerns about the way our culture in America was heading, and especially how it might affect his kids, who were grown up now. He asked for their prayers, and they gladly obliged.

While Tom finished talking with Roy, Andrew began talking to Sherman, who was also a fallen away Catholic and very much shut down spiritually. Sherman’s father was a deacon in the Church, and Sherman left the Church and was now a Baptist. Apparently he had not lost all taste for spiritual things. He brought up fasting to Andrew and asked if Andrew fasted, saying that he had fasted for a week without any food at all. Impressive!

When Tom finished speaking with Roy, he then spoke to a man in a wheelchair, which did not prove to be fruitful. Despite Tom’s efforts to move the conversation to faith in Christ, the man kept directing it elsewhere and essentially talking about nothing. So unfortunately Tom did not get to say anything of value before our stop came. Tom offered to pray for him and then got off the train.

As we got off the train to get on the other side of the platform to head home, we came across a line of benches against the wall with people sitting on them in various groups. As Tom and Andrew walked away to find someone to talk to, I saw a man sitting on a bench right next to me listening to music. I sat on the bench right next to him and engaged him in conversation. I asked him if he had plans to go to church in the morning, to which he said no. I asked him if he ever goes, and he said that he used to go to a Baptist church all the time but stopped going regularly. When I asked why he said “The people.” He started saying how hypocritical the people were, talking a big game in church but living sinfully as soon as they left. I agreed that it was a sad thing and that Jesus warned us against hypocrisy, and asked him what his faith entailed now. He said that he believed in God and believed Jesus died for and that he knows that God doesn’t want him to be perfect. 

I jumped right on that. I said “Actually Jesus says in the Gospel ‘be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.’” This surprised him a bit and after a few seconds of silence, I explained that seeking perfection means to seek to be free from sin and become more like God through an increase in faith, hope, and love. It doesn’t mean to try to be an angel when we are just humans, hating our every fault, because God loves our humanity. I talked about how we cannot achieve this perfection on our own efforts but by relying on God and His grace and mercy, to which he agreed. Our conversation progressed and we began talking about why he identified himself as a Baptist. When I asked him what the differences between all the denominations of Christianity were, he said that he did not believe there was any important difference, just that each group “got into the word a little differently.” I asked him if he thought God wanted there to be such disunity among Christians. He responded that he didn’t know, but that he didn’t feel that it mattered. I asked him if he believed Jesus was truly God, and he said yes. So I said “Jesus, before he was crucified, said in His prayer to the Father that he desired that we would all be one, as Him and the Father are one. So then God’s desire is that there would be unity among Christians. Do you think that a perfect God would set up an imperfect, chaotic Church where everyone does as they feel?” 

He was a bit taken aback, and said he had never considered that. So I took him back in time a little bit. I asked him if he believed that Jesus gave authority to His apostles, who were real men, flesh and blood, that He did not give to anyone else, and he said yes. I asked if he believed that that authority could possibly still exist today. He said that it was possible. Then I started to discuss the Bible with him, asking him if he believed it was the word of God, and he said yes. So I explained to him how the Gospels were written decades after the death of Christ, and so the churches relied solely on the authority of the Apostles and their letters and preaching. I talked about how the canon of scripture wasn’t decided for another 300 years, and it was the Church who decided what makes up the Bible today. He responded that he had never really thought about that. Through the rest of our conversation I led him to my final point, that the Catholic Church was and still is the true Church that Christ founded. He smiled and said “So I’m guessing you’re Catholic huh?” I said yes, and he responded “I get what you’re saying, but what’s to tell me that this isn’t just your own personal bias?” I said “Everything I’ve told you is historical fact, look it up yourself if you want when you get home. I haven’t even gotten into my own beliefs yet.” He was satisfied with the response, and we talked a bit longer. I was able to discuss the Eucharist with him, and he had never heard of the doctrine of the Real Presence. We talked a little about it then his stop came he asked me to get off at his stop and talk to him about it more, but I couldn’t since I was with other people. I gave him one of our pamphlets and said goodbye.

Andrew during this time was talking to a young man and his girlfriend. The man talked about his love for his girlfriend and so Andrew discussed Theology of the Body, eventually ending by talking about his relationship with God. About this time a bunch of Dallas Stars fans got on the train right after their game finished.

Tom and Andrew then talked with Ray, who was a fallen away Catholic from Minnesota who worked in Defense. He brought up that he was mad at congress about the defense budget. This was an immediate common ground for Andrew since he is a self proclaimed “military brat”. After discussing the military for a little bit, Andrew brought up that he was also Catholic, and Ray responded that he doesn’t go to church anymore. Tom shared his conversion story and then gave him a John Paul II prayer card, which proved to be incredibly providential. When Ray saw the John Paul II prayer card he immediately brought up that he went to World Youth Day in 1993 and saw John Paul II in person. Andrew realized that he was also at World Youth Day in 1993. It was not a coincidence that Andrew pulled out that prayer card. This led to some fruitful conversation on faith and after encouraging Ray, Tom and Andrew got off the train.

Around 11:30 pm, we got off the train to head back to our car and head home. As we were heading for the stairs there was a woman standing right in our way, looking distraught. Tom joked around with her then he asked if she was doing alright. She said no, in a very sad voice. He asked her what was wrong, and she said that her aunt was dying of brain cancer and only had 2 days to live. He asked if she wanted us to pray for her and her aunt, and she said yes. So we began to pray with her and she immediately made the sign of the cross. We prayed with her and she thanked us, and we asked if she was Catholic. She said that she was and that she used to go to St. Joseph (which is where we had just come from!) but had fallen away. We invited her to come to our Monday night meetings and she seemed very excited. As Tom and Andrew headed to the car, I really felt in my heart that she needed a bit more, so I hung back with her for just a minute to dig a little deeper. I asked why she doesn’t go to Mass anymore, and she said that it was because her job involved weekend work and she always found a reason not to go. I really encouraged her to return to Mass and to Christ in the Eucharist, and to meet with a priest so she could rid herself of the burden she was obviously carrying. She agreed and hugged me goodbye.

We all drove away, rejoicing and in amazement at the mercy of God.

Recap - Outing #3, January 7th

Sorry for the incredibly late post! I’m posting this over a month and a half late. I have been slacking.

We just completed another trip out to the DART, again with wonderful results. I cannot emphasize enough the hunger that is out there for truth.

This time out, it was me, Tom, and Tom’s friend Matt, who was in town for a few days and wanted to join us. In order to be better stewards of our time, and better husbands to our wives who are at home patiently waiting for us, we planned our route much better this time, keeping a close watch on our time and the stops. The past two times we ended up on the far end of the rail, not getting back until 2 AM at times. This time we were able to be home by 11:30 pm, which was much appreciated by our wives.

In addition I have Tom’s accounts to share with you and not just my own (I forced him to keep a mental note of who we spoke to). They are quite brief but I am trying to progressively get them to remember more details.

We rushed onto the platform, barely getting our tickets out of the machine before the 9:45 rolled in. We said a quick prayer together then hopped on. As always we split up, I went on my own, and Matt went with Tom since it was his first time out and he wanted to observe.

The first person I spoke with was a Latino man sitting by himself. I sat next to him and started to engage him in conversation. I asked him if he spoke English and he said yes. After about 30 seconds of talking, I realized he did not speak English at all but was trying to pretend like he did. I politely excused myself and moved on.

Tom first spoke to a Hispanic man named Johnny. He was a fallen away Catholic who no longer attended Mass. Interestingly though it was obvious that the desire to return to the Church was there. He recounted to Tom the joy of his first communion when he was young. Tom spoke to him more and really challenged him to reignite his faith and return to the Church.

After another stop, I moved down the train and saw an African American man sitting alone listening to music, staring out the window the opposite direction from me. This is one of the hurdles of modern evangelization: getting someone’s attention. People rarely pay any attention to their surroundings anymore. They just want to tune out and just go from point A to point B. So I knew I needed to get his music away from him. So I asked him what he was listening to, and he responded with some rap band I’ve never heard of. So I asked him if I could listen, and he reluctantly agreed, obviously annoyed with someone bothering him and also suspicious that some random person wants to hear his music. 

After he started handing me the iPod, I said “I actually don’t want to listen to your music, I just want to talk to you.” So I introduced myself and he said his name was Marcus. I engaged him in conversation, directing it quickly to his faith. I learned he was Baptist and his father was a Baptist minister. So I asked him why he was Baptist, and what that meant. After talking a bit longer I was able to go straight to the Eucharist, explaining what it meant and how it divided us as Catholic and non-Catholic. He was extremely receptive and said he had never heard of that teaching in his whole life. Our stop at Mockingbird station came and so I had to leave him, but he thanked me for teaching him and also agreed to pray over John 6. I was in such a rush not to miss our stop that I forgot to hand him any materials.

When we were off the train, we were completely overwhelmed with crowds of people. The bars were extremely busy, and the movie theater was also packed. We struggled to find anyone approachable, but Tom found a group of people sitting near a fountain with guitars at their feet, and so he went over and engaged them.

Tom and Matt spoke with Abraham, Diario, and Ireen. Interestingly they all happened to be Catholic (Tom always ends up talking to Catholics, I always end up talking to Baptists). Two of them were a married couple and they said that they go to the Cathedral downtown. The other young man was fallen away. He grew up Catholic and has since not been going to Church or very active in his faith. Tom and Matt shared with them that they were out evangelizing people, sharing with people the message of God’s love. They were very interested and excited to hear about it.

While Tom and Matt were talking, I walked around looking for someone to talk to. The trouble with the stops near bars is that everyone is crowded together, making one on one conversation difficult, and a lot of people have been drinking, and someone who is buzzed or drunk is not worth your time. So I wandered around for a bit without much luck. I found two women talking at a table alone and started to approach them, but they were just finishing coffee and left before I made it there. Finally I saw a guy standing alone, impatiently checking his phone. I started talking to him and learned he was waiting for his girlfriend, who was on her way to meet him. So I worked with what time I had but before I could get into anything deep his girlfriend showed up and he ran off.

With hopes of finding smaller groups of people, we headed back to the platform. On the way there I found an African American man standing by himself in the middle of the walkway. Tonight was a night of providential conversation starters. Right where he was standing, there was a sign on the fence that was advertising a Gospel music band. I felt very strongly that I should speak with him, and the sign was icing on the cake. I asked him if he had ever heard of the band, and he responded yes, so I asked him if he liked Gospel music. He said yes, he listens to it all the time. So I asked him if he had faith in God, and if he went to church. He said that he was a believer in Jesus and prayed all the time, that he did not attend any church, but really felt like he needed to start going. I asked him why he didn’t go, and he said that he felt lost and never found a church where he felt at home with because the teachings were never the same. 

After assuring him there was a home for him, I asked him what he thought it takes to get to heaven, and he responded that he wasn’t sure. So I asked him “What did Jesus say it takes to get to heaven while he was here on earth?” He responded “Well, Jesus said a lot of things, but I guess I think you just need to have faith.” I was already starting to like this guy for his sincerity, because what he said is true. Jesus did say a lot of things, and without the Church to guide us it is easy to become confused or just pick and choose the teachings we like and don’t like. So I explained to him what Jesus said, that we must believe and be baptized, that we must obey the commandments, and that we must enter into the New Covenant with God by consuming Jesus’s body and blood, which only the Catholic Church can provide. He was very surprised to hear about the teaching on the Eucharist, but also very receptive and thankful. He said he had been praying and waiting for someone to come and give him the truth, and that us coming out that night was the answer to his prayer. It was humbling and just one more reason to praise God’s mercy. We talked a bit longer about our different jobs and backgrounds, then I gave him some of our material and got on the train heading back Richardson.

Tom and Matt spoke to a man named Danny and his son Tralin. They were very scared and apprehensive when they approached them until Tom asked what church they went to. That really opened up the conversation and eventually Danny asked Tom to pray for him and his son, which they immediately did.

After a few minutes of walking the train, I found the last person I spoke to for the night. His name was David, and he was a DART employee whose job it was to count the number of people who get on and off at each stop, and record the data into a PDA. I talked to him for a little while and learned that he was Baptist, and attended a nearby missionary church. I asked him what the difference was between all the denominations and churches, and he responded “Well, it’s all ideological but none of it matters as long as you just have Jesus.” Anyone who either comes from a Protestant background, especially non-denominational like me, knows that saying very well. This is the default response you will get from people who have either become content in their situation and do not want to seek further, or could not find the answers they were looking for and so it is the easiest way for them to cope with the lack of unity. If all we needed was Jesus, there would be no differences between us, but there are, and the question you have to ask is: whose version of Jesus are you following? So I tried to charitably explain to him that there are very real and important differences between him as a Baptist, and me as a Catholic, starting with (as always) the Eucharist. He had never heard the word before, but he was very familiar with the Bread of Life discourse and also the Last Supper. 

He actually began to teach me why he was right and I was mistaken, and he did it in a way that I’ve never seen before. Usually people who actually know this teaching and disagree with it tend to stay on the symbolical side, saying that Jesus was never being literal when he talked about His Body and Blood. But this guy said that Jesus in fact was being literal, but that he meant for us to consume Him as the Word, by reading about him and consuming Him spiritually. I explained that humans are both body and soul, and so we can definitely receive Jesus spiritually through prayer and scripture reading, but also physically through the Eucharist because God doesn’t only love our souls, He loves our bodies too. In fact he loved them so much that He took on a body Himself for about 33 years. David was pretty surprised at this and we did not get much more time to talk before our stop came. He took some material and agreed to pray for us. We got off the train and onto the platform.

In all, it was a short but very productive night. We used our time very well and came home to happy wives. Praise God and His mercy to the lost sheep of Dallas.

Recap # 2

Ok, here’s a recap of our second evangelization outing, again from my perspective only since nobody else wrote anything down for these trips (they will from now on don’t worry)

We drove to the station together, prayed at the station, then got on the train (we actually just barely made it). It was me, Tom, and Andrew.

This time around, I was much bolder and had greater confidence, although I will say that even the first time we went out, after the initial nervousness of speaking to the first person, I personally experienced a boldness in speaking that certainly did not originate with me, and I think my fellow evangelists would agree they felt the same. As you listen to people and pray for them, the words really do come.

The first person I talked to was an old man, sitting by himself reading a book about an actress I’d never heard of. I sat across from him, asked him what his book was about and then asked if I could sit next to him and continue the conversation, and he agreed. He then asked me what I was doing on the train, to which I plainly answered “Talking about Jesus.” He took that in for a second and didn’t really react much at all, so I asked if he believed in God and he responded that he was a Baptist and attended a church in town. After a few questions about his faith and beliefs, I asked if he knew where his beliefs as a Baptist came from, what their origins were. He didn’t know any more than the word “Anabaptist”, which is actually more than most people I’ve talked to. I traced back the Anabaptists to the Anglicans back to the Catholic Church, at which point he realized I was Catholic and became upset. He expressed his distrust and anger towards “any kind of organized, institutional religion.” I presented the teaching on the Eucharist but at that point he had stopped listening and could only think about the organized aspect. So I tried to explain the need for the organization and authority, and the failed experiment of Protestantism, but he stopped me saying that he would not agree no matter what I said and that I should leave. So I left him but not before shaking his hand and getting him to agree to read and pray about John 6, as I typically like to end with. I went and talked with a few more people who do not come to mind.

Now begins the most exciting part of the night, at least for me. I approached two teenage girls who were talking. There were people nearby but mostly out of earshot. I started asking them about their beliefs and after they said they were Baptist we got into a discussion about where the Bible comes from. One girl expressly told me that the Bible was written directly by God and not by men, so I explained the Church’s teaching on inspiration. Then I asked them about what they believe as Baptists versus other “denominations” (I put that in quotes because I very much dislike that word being applied to the Catholic Church, since it is the original Church founded by Christ, and even if you don’t believe that, it is historically the oldest). She told me in a very calm and nice way that they mostly believe the Bible but other groups like Catholics worship Mary (she did not know I was Catholic yet). I asked her where she heard that, and she said she had a Catholic friend. So I told her I was Catholic, corrected her, and she very nicely and laughingly said thank you. I immediately moved in for the Eucharist. I’m not an evangelization expert by any means, but I can tell you that in my few experiences doing this, it is the Eucharist that wins people’s attention. Many times it is all I need to talk about before they agree to take some literature from us or look into it on their own, which is our end goal. Or it is the thing that immediately sends them running, just like it did for Jesus.

I asked the girls if their church did a communion service, to which they responded yes. I asked them what it means and why they do it. One said it was to bring people together, the other said it was like Jesus’s body and blood. When I asked where it comes from in the Bible, they did not know. So I just jumped right to it and told them the teaching on the Eucharist, and one of the girl’s jaws literally dropped. As I kept explaining and reciting the Bread of Life discourse, her jaw dropped further. She was stupefied by what I was saying, and she actually thanked me for telling her because she had never heard that before.

As I started to get on a roll, a man who had been eavesdropping jumped into the conversation and essentially called me a liar very loudly. He began to tell me that I had no knowledge of what I was saying and that I just bought into something I didn’t understand. When I began to ask for some kind of substance to his accusation, he countered with the question “What is the oldest book in the Bible?” I told him I did not know, which prompted him to say “See if you don’t even know that, you don’t have the knowledge of God that I have and so you don’t know what you’re talking about.” At this point he was so loud that Tom came over and said that the oldest book was Job, which was true and burst his bubble a bit. But he just kept on yelling at us, without really making any kind of argument or sense at all. He became so upset that even people who weren’t really on our side started sticking up for us. The girls I was talking to asked him to sit back down and be quiet so they could finish talking to me, but he wouldn’t. So we handed the girls some pamphlets, thanked them, and got off the train.

I think that’s probably enough for now. The next blog post should have pictures and accounts from other people besides just me…