Where do I start? A very busy month has passed. Alongside normal day to day evangelism I got a phone call from Patrick McCullagh to see if I was going down to the Rathangan fair to evangelise the farmers!
Being a city boy I’d never heard of this fair and was keen to do a recon mission at the least! So meeting up at the new premises of WCCC we left one vehicle, loaded up with ammo (tracts!) and proceeded to the objective.
The fair was large with thousands of people walking around looking for something free to do, like take a survey on their faith or answer the “Million Dollar Question” – Where will you go when you die? I spoke to one stall holder who told me it cost 40 euro for a stall and thought it’d be a good idea to get one for next year specifically for evangelism. We had some divine appointments and great conversations with people and passed out a good few tracts also.
Straight away the Oxegen 2009 festival was upon us. This year there was 80,000 tickets sold so we knew to expect a large crowd. We got there on the Saturday about 11:00, Edel, myself and Dave Kinsella from Waterford. We spent some time in prayer and then loaded up with tracts, Bibles, Dave’s “Good Test” flip chart and my loudhailer we made our way to Naas main street.
The streets were teeming with hung over, cold, tired and very muddy festival goers. There were shoes lying abandoned in the mud covered street, empty bottles and cans littered the length of the town. We started in prayer in a closed shop doorway we had used last year and when we stood up we saw a festival security guard standing behind us with a metal crowd barrier closing off the shop entrance who demanded that we move. Obviously he was not a member of our police and so I didn’t have to do what he said any more than any other civilian. We asked why and he was unimpressed with being questioned. Once he explained we moved out of the shop front and started passing out tracts and talking with people at the bus collection area for the festival.
The security guard called for the police to move us along. Two policemen came to talk to us and they explained that we could not make an obstruction (despite the festival people having half the path obstructed with barriers and queues). Obviously we have a constitutional right to preach and speak to people about God. These 2 police were open and encouraged us to continue but to move from the narrowest path areas. We moved across the path about 5 meters to a larger “island” area and Dave set up his flip chart. A large crowd was gathering (but not blocking the path) and the organisers again called for the police.
A different pair came along and were much more hard nosed, again Edel did most of the talking with them and they wanted us to move further on. Edel asked if it was a problem because of the crowd and the police-women said it was. As the discussion was ongoing the festival goers started chanting “free speech!” So Edel negotiated that we could preach and hand out tracts just as long as we didn’t do anything to gather a large crowd or we could move to more open parts of the town and gather crowds there. The security guard was visibly angry that we were not moved on again! And he made another call on his radio, but we had no more interruptions from the police.
The sun shone while we did the Lords work and after a while it started to rain heavily; we needed a coffee break. The Lord used the sunshine and rain alternately to support preaching and to keep under shelter with us while we spoke to them. There were people who thought they were frustrating the Gospel but God used their wicked works to bring the news of the Saviour to others who would not have otherwise heard. His wisdom is so greater than ours. That day we were told by police & security staff that already 7 rapes had been reported, almost 100 additional arrests and one person carried dead from their tent. This is not reported in the media and the same type of carry-on last year was also not reported.
We had a great day in the Lord and many people were ready to hear the Gospel. I returned the following day to meet up with Dave and catch the people leaving the festival. Many left early this year but the Lord had prepared a few for me to speak to who were lying on the footpath nursing their heads and waiting on a lift. Initially they were abusive and told me to get lost but I reasoned with them for a short while and quickly they were asking lots of questions. I spent over 1.5 hours with them having a very in-depth discussion of the Gospel and it’s personal application to their souls. It never ceases to amaze me how often this happens, the people who resist hard initially with a little gentle reasoning frequently turn out to be the people that God has prepared to hear the Gospel and it truly impacts them.
Both the Arklow SeaBreeze Festival and the Dunbrody Festival occur on the together on the weekend following Oxegen so we also took on both of these.
Teaming up with Arklow Baptist Church, they had a circus tent and prepared a series of meetings presenting the Gospel. They had put up posters round the town and posted leaflets into most of the houses in the town. On the first meeting there was 69 of the 72 seats taken. The Gospel was preached and at least one lady was saved. We were there primarily for support and to assist with security. This carried on each evening for the weekend with many hearing the Gospel and some being saved.
In the daytime of the Friday & Saturday I also travelled to New Ross and teamed up with Patrick McCullagh to witness there. There were not many places suited to the preaching and this was mainly a recon mission. We spoke to many people and passed out many tracts. An elderly pair of ladies from Belfast had a long chat with me, they had never heard the Gospel. In the end they took a bible each and agreed to go before the Lord in prayer and ask Him to reveal the truth to them and to read His word. God was glorified and the cross was lifted up. His word says that He will draw them to Him all we have to do is be obedient.
People are dying for a reason to live, let’s get out there and tell them what it is.
Patrick & Sandy at the field day