Glendale Part 1

Glendale Part 2

Hollywood Blvd Part 1

Hollywood Blvd Part 2

Hollywood Blvd Part 3

Stickers as Qualifications???

I'm sure we've all seen the NOTW stickers on cars. To assume that the person driving is a repentant born again believer of Christ is about as reasonable as believing that everyone with a TapOut sticker can actually put you in a choke hold. Now would you really throw a UFC sticker or a the previously mentioned TapOut sticker on your car and then go fight Brock Lesnar or GSP? Absolutely not! If you had a love of MMA fighting, you would train, workout, and put in all kinds of effort into achieving your goal. Otherwise you would most definitely be fighting a losing battle right from the start. Christians have a bigger enemy than Lesnar or Mir or BJ Penn. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. That's right our fight is with Satan yet some want to go out and fight him without training, without a solid workout and with no effort on their part. What I'm talking about is being repentant, spending time in prayer, time in God's Word(the Bible), and having times of fellowship with other believers. We have to train and excercise in these areas to adequately contend for our faith. The problem is people slap a Not of this World sticker on their car and don't spend time training to live up to the claim. I would encourage whoever reads this to do what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 13:5 and make sure you are in the faith. Slapping a sticker on your car means nothing without backing it up. Just like a TapOut sticker doesn't make someone an MMA fighter and a Roxy sticker doesn't guarantee the person is wearing Ugg boots and a jean skirt(well this one might be true lol), NOTW stickers don't ensure that the person driving is saved and really means nothing if the person is not loving God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

1 Samuel 16:7 (New International Version)
7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Journey is done but its far from over

Alrighty, the Ambassador's Academy is over. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your prayers and support. Our God did truly amazing things this weekend through people who are willing to be obedient to his commands. He commanded us to go into the world and make disciples. While I appreciate the support, I just want everyone to know that this wasn't Ben and Virg doing something they felt led to do. Sharing our faith with the lost should be the standard for Christians. The problem is that a staggeringly low number of people who claim to be followers of Christ actually share their faith on a regular basis. In light of His command for us to go out in the world and make disciples and the fact that the Bible says in 1 John 5:3 that if we love God we will obey His commands, something just doesn't add up. This also isn't a pat on my own back. This is to get anyone who reads this motivated to share their faith and quit hiding behind Ephesians 4:11 by saying that they are not called to be an evangelist. I would say the command of Jesus to make disciples is more important. Maybe you're too nervous or scared. Guess what. You just qualified yourself to share the gospel message. The apostle Paul felt the same way. He went with much fear and trembling. Bottom line is we need to share our faith, biblically, like Jesus did. He used the 10 Commandments, God's Law when witnessing one to one. The woman at the well, the rich young ruler. He didn't tell them Jesus loved them and had a wonderful plan for their life(see image of book, it's Stephen getting stoned). He used the Law lawfully to show them their need for a savior. I recommend anyone who has the means to go to one of these ambassador's academies to go. If you can't go, listen to Hell's Best Kept Secret and True and False Conversions here. Thanks for all who support DiG, please keep praying for us as we attempt to reach gamers and our communities with the love of Jesus, through His Law which is perfect for converting souls.

Galatians 3:24 (New International Version)

²⁴So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.

As my trip comes to a close

What an amazing week, one I will never forget. Starting with a loving family taking me in, next being filled with the Holy Spirit at Sanctuary Church. All of you there are in my thoughts and prayers, if I am ever near your door you will find me there. Living Waters you continue to be a tool for the Lord to mold men and woman and teach them how to preach as our Master Jesus did. I have learned so much and have truly been transformed! I need to equip my brothers and sisters with what I have learned so they to can be Ambassadors for the Lord. I pray they would receive the call.

Virgil, thank you for being such a great brother in Christ. God has shown me why he has brought you into my life and what we are called to do. Get ready brother to do great things for the Lord. I am going to need you alongside me in this battle for the lost!

I sit here at the airport waiting for my flight home to my family that I miss so much! I can't wait to hold them in my arms.

I have so much to share and write that will take some time to gather and organize but keep checking out this blog because while my trip to California is done, my trip for the Lord to fulfill The Great Commission is just begining. I can't wait to find a fishing hole back home to go fishing for souls for the Lord. This blog will stay to encourage, share, challenge and help equip all to fulfill The Great Commission.

In Christ,
-Ben



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Location:Airport

Ben Open Air Hollywood Blvd

Ben Stoplight Preaching 3

Virgil Stoplight Preaching 2

Virgil stoplight preaching at Valley View and Corporate in Cypress

Preach to an audience of One

Folks we were so blessed to be able to practice Open Air Stoplight Preaching this evening with our teams.  While we were practicing to each other, there were cars passing by and stopping at the lights.  Some would beep their horns and shout things at us while we were preaching.  Some things good and some things not good.  We had to find our voices and stumble around as we tried to do this.  It is not easy, this is very difficult but so rewarding.

One car stopped into the parking lot of the Chilli's that we were by and found one of the people from our Academy and wanted to talk to someone about having a relationship with Christ and prayed with him.  His name was Joe. Praise God and give Him the glory.

While we thought we were practicing we were in fact witnessing and proclaiming Gods Law and Gospel to those passing by and ultimately the audience of One, Him, God our Father.  Tomorrow we head to Hollywood Boulevard and Glendale, pray for all of us as we herald the Gospel to all who can hear!

Luke 10:2 - And Jesus said - "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."

Virgil Stoplight Preaching

Virgil stoplight preaching at Valley View and Corporate in Cypress.

Ben Stoplight Preaching 1

Ben stoplight preaching at Valley View and Corporate in Cypress.

Stoplight Preaching - Ben

Ben stoplight preaching at Valley View and Corporate in Cypress.

Gods grace....

I can't even put words together righ now to share with anyone that might read this. I am so overwhelmed with Gods grace and what he did for each an everyone of us. We are so undeserving of His grace yet it is there and ready for each of us, if we could just get past our physical, sinful selves and reachout to our Creator.

I pray that all reading this might feel God in your life and have a desire in your soul to reach the lost. All you need is fear and trembling to qualify yourself for the Lord.

Do you qualify?

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Free book!

Go here and get a free copy from Living Waters.

http://freewonderfulbook.com/




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Location:Academy

Ray Comfort

So we got to hear Ray he was great and hasn't aged a bit! His accent and humor were fantastic but his zeal for the lost was truly amazing.

I managed to catch Ray before he left as he was sneaking out and I got a picture with him. What an inspiration he has been to me and encouargment to share the great commission.



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Location:Academy

Classes...

So far we have heard from Stuart Scott, EZ, Tony and Kirk! We are so incredibly blessed to be here and learning. Both Virgil and I got to meet and talk w Kirk. Kirk shared his testimony and talked about apologetics and how we have to be careful not to become an apologetic power ranger! He said its great to know and learn cause it can strengthen your walk to the cross; but don't get caught up arguing apologetics and lose focus on your mission of taking the person to the cross!

























We are almost done with our lunch break and when we go back we get to hear from Ray Comfort himself!

God bless and be encouraged!

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Location:Academy

What is an Ambassador?

From one of Ray Comforts books The Blue Book of Evangelism

"In the secular world, an ambassador is defined as a diplomat of the highest rank, accredited as a representative from one country to another.  Every born-again follower of Jesus Christ is given the task of being an ambassador, an accredited representative of our great God and King.  Such a priceless and undeserved honor is bestowed upon each of us the moment we step from the kingdom of Satan to the Kingdom of God.

The apostle Paul defines the responsibility of an ambassador: to implore people on the behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God, by boldly proclaiming the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:20; Ephesians 6:19,20)  Every true Christian must realize that he is first a representative of his Lord who saved him from the penalty of sin and God's just and holy wrath.  Sadly, too few Christians fulfill their God-given mandate to represent their King as heralds of the message of the Kingdom of Heaven to a lost and dying world.  They have forgotten that the gospel is a spoken message - one requires a messenger to deliver (Romans 10:14-17)."

I am so very blessed to be here and am so encouraged by being here learning how to fulfill God's mandate.  Thank you to everyone who is praying and has been an encouragement it truly has been felt!

Checked in and ready

Well we are here, fed checked in and ready to get started. We have a quick orientation and time of fellowship starting any minute.

We got our tracks and materials for the next day an half of training. There are so many different types of people from all over the country, it is amazing!





We are so pumped up and excited for this to begin! Praise God He is so good!


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In route....to Ambassador Academy

So we are a few hours away from meeting our team leaders and fellow ambassadors that will be together for the next couple days proclaiming Gods word as commanded.

Please keep us and all others in your prayers for protection and pray for those who hear our words, that they would have soft hearts and be ready to hear it.
- Ben and Virgil






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Location:Virgils car

Time for Ambassador's Alliance

So after a long day of travel on Sunday and a amazing encounter with the Holy Ghost on Sunday at Sanctuary Church.  I have been blessed to stay with Virgil's family and celebrate their sons birthday, play games, do some site-seeing and we made our way to the beach. 
While we have been out and about walking around we have tried to find people to witness to and share tracts with.  One store we passed by was a dry cleaning shop and the person inside was Korean, we were going to use the GM28 app for our iPhone but it didn't have Korean.  So we started talking with her, she seemed to speak english up until she heard Jesus Christ and then she seemed to tune us out and pretend to not understand.

Later while doing some store browsing we ran into a homeless man who was asking for .45 cents, I had seen a couple homeless people and remember hearing not to give homeless people the Million Dollar Bill tracts but wanted to give to the poor.  So earlier I wrapped a million dollar bill in a five dollar bill and was ready to give to someone if approached.  Well now being approached I had it ready and gave him the 5 and Million inside.  Even though we may not always have words for people we can create opportunities by being like Christ and plant seeds and allow them to be watered.  I pray that man read the words on the tract and it touched him.

So today we have to get packed up and ready to head to the hotel tonight to meet everyone and worship together.  Stay tuned for more updates as we find opportunities to share our faith with others and go through the Ambassadors Alliance.  Please be praying for us and all others that are in the academy for the next couple of days.

Bad Religion at Big Mike's

With a young guy wearing a shirt with the image shown here and my pocket filled with curved illusions tracts from living waters, I immediately felt like I should witness to him. Please don't believe the previous sentence! I was at first put off and intimidated by his apparel and figured I already knew where he stood so why bother. What I couldn't get around was James 4:17 "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." The reason this was so heavy on me was because of an open door to witness I ignored at GameStop Monday night. I didn't want to do that again. All of this boy's friends were outside the sandwich shop we were about to eat at so it seemed as if God had set it up where I could break the ice with just the one person. I didn't want to commit a sin of omission by not at least handing this young man a tract so I did. He was blown away by the illusion tracts so I handed it to him and went through some of the Law with him and that Jesus died for those things. We shook hands and exchanged goodbyes. It was wild after that! He went outside and just like Ray Comfort has talked about in some of his sermons, now the boy was sharing the tract! He apparently did not realize the Gospel was spelled out on the back of the red and blue curves so he was showing all of his friends the Gospel message while he looked at the colorful side!! It was great! All this was to say, don't assume someone doesn't want to hear your message even if they look like they could care less. God met me where I was at, just like Saul on the road to Damascus, so I know for sure He can do that with anyone, anywhere. It's up to us to just be obedient.

Encounter with the Holy Ghost

Good Evening\Morning,


So we ended up going to a church that I wanted to check out that had some skateboard ties and I follow the preacher sermons online. We went there and were welcomed with so many handshakes and greetings it was awesome they knew we were new. The worship was great! I prayed for the Lord to show and give me direction and show Himself to me. Then came the sermon, at first I was a little bummed because the pastor who was suppose to preach, who I wanted to preach wasn't there and there was a different pastor, Shawn there to preach. He started out preaching about the Spirit of the Lord, and I was intrigued and listened intently. He preached out of Romans, Galatians, Psalms, and then Philippians. He had a great catch phrase to call on the Spirit when you needed him, "Help me Holy Ghost"  it was so simple yet effective beyond words. 
As he was coming to a close he preached Phil 1:21 which is the motto verse for digoutreach - DiG - Death is Gain. Virgil and I looked at each other and were blown away. What came next was not expected at all. They did an altar call but instead of a call for the lost, sick, or someone needing to be saved it was a call for those who feel led to preach. My feet made it to the altar before my body and mind did. I stood there in some of the deepest prayer and the Pastor laid hands on me twice and prayed for and over me and it went on for about 15 minutes at least. Tears and joy filled me as the Holy Spirit filled me up and moved into me. Virgil was down there too and received prayer and Gods annointment over him too.  The service finally ended and then we met the Deacon Dana and we told him about our Video Game ministry and he was really intrigued and about me coming from Cleveland and wanting to see the other Pastor preach and to receive this message instead and be a part of it. Then came more prayer, he grabbed us and prayed over us and our ministry and for the upcoming week of preaching too. He then took us to their youth room where the youth and the youth pastor was and we told them about DiG and they were intrigued and they than asked if they could pray for us, still in shock of how much the Lord had poured over us we said yes and were quickly surrounded with a dozen kids and the Pastor praying over us. The sincere prayers and passion these kids displayed was amazing. This prayer kept going for 10 minutes or so and we ended with more tears and hugs and handshakes. What an absolute blessing! I hope my words capture this amazing encounter with the Lord. This was the first day, I can't wait to see what He has in store for us the rest of the week!

Humbly filled with His Spirit,

Ben

The Journey Continues!

So Ben, my family, and I had a wonderful lunch at In-n-Out. Afterwards, we played a bit of Halo Reach online and followed that up by sending out some witnessing messages. I had worked the night before and Ben had sat throught two cramped flights today so we were nearing exhaustion as it was coming time to go down to Westminster to visit Sanctuaryhb.com 's home church. A last minute trip to the store almost put me down for the count, so much so that I wasn't feeling like going to this church Ben had told me about. I'm glad I didn't give in to these feelings. The people at Sanctuary welcomed us with open arms and more handshakes than we could count. Everyone knew we were new and they never made us feel like we were. The worship music was amazing and got me prepared for the message. And what a message it was. Paster Shawn taught a Spirit filled lesson about walking in the Spirit. It even ended with one of the final verses being DiG's main verse-Philippians 1:21. Finally the sermon ended with a call up to the front. Not an altar call for salvation or healing but for people who are being called to preach! What and amazing appointment God had us keep to be prayed for for our upcoming open air preaching class with the Ambassador's Alliance! The whole time we could feel the Spirit moving in that place. Afterwards with tears and shaking Ben and I hugged and looked at each other and just said,"WOW!" We got to share DiGoutreach.com with the Pastor and the Deacon, who took us into the youth room to share our ministry with them. The kids in there proceded to lay hands on us and pray for upwards of 6 minutes for our ministry and for us to reach the gaming community. What an amazing night God had planned for us. We finally left and Ben was given a DVD from their church that he wanted to pay for but they wouldn't allow it. This is the most amazing church experience I think I've ever had and I feel more prepared for the challenges upcoming this week!

Journey begins....

So I am waiting to board my first flight in this next chapter of my journey for the Lord. I pray the Lord would use me to fulfill His Kingdom.


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Preaching to all Nations

So we are commanded to preach to all nations, all people, even though we cannot communicate to all nations since they speak different languages.  This is a tall order and somewhat a difficult task... Especially if you don't speak every language. 

Well now you can communicate to a eleven languages with your iPhone.  That's right your iPhone, living waters has built a iPhone app called GM28. 
GM28 for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
Stop now and go and download it!  It is really amazing it has a built in questionnaire, a preaching mate and the Gospel presentation.  Just select which one you plan on using and then select what language you need to present in and hit play.  It will read outloud through the speaker in the language you selected.  You have Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish Castillian, Spanish Neutral and Turkish to choose from.
You could use this tool with your headset on Xbox Live for those parties when you hear another language and wish you could share.  Not only does it vocalize it for you through the speakers but it puts it on the screen too, so you can see how to type it!
I highly recommend downloading and giving this a try its that easy!  Not only that but it might give you the words in english to help build your confidence and learn how to share as commanded in the Great Commission, the way Jesus did it...
Get out there, get bold, call on God to help you share your faith, plant seeds or water them and leave the rest up to God.

Halo Out-Reach Beta

Many of you may have never witnessed to someone on XBOX Live. Maybe it's because that's supposed to be your relaxing time and you don't want to be considered a spammer. Both of those are understandable and are better reasons than the 98% of christians who don't share their faith regularly use. The problem is, XBOX gamers are a very lost breed. You've been in the lobbies where you have to mute everyone. Some peoples' solution to the problem is to not play at all online. But now what if everyone leaves rather than takes a stand for the faith. Maybe we shouldn't be muting everyone. Maybe we shouldn't run and hide in the confines of a single player experience. Perhaps we should take one on the chin and start a 90 second open-air type sermon in a lobby. Let them hear the Gospel message or they can make the choice to mute us. With the Halo Reach Beta upon us and I'm sure coming to a close faster than any of us would like, let's use the communcation resources the XBOX gives us to tell people about God's Law and Judgment and then bring them to the cross of Calvary. Make this a Halo Outreach beta. You may be surprised how much more rewarding your time gaming will be.

Romans 12:21 (New International Version)
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Workplace Witnessing

Well there I was on my lunch break at work. I pulled up one of the Way of the Master lessons to look through so I could finish them all up before next weeks Ambassador's Academy. My Filipino co-worker asked what I was looking at so I explained to him that I was learning to share my faith more effectively. What an epic fail that would have been if I had not shared with him right? So I asked him if he had a christian background. He informed me that he, like a lot of Filipino's, had a Catholic background. He hadn't been to church in some time though but he was still familiar with Jesus and why He is so important. I took him through some of the 10 Commandments and he acknowledged that he had broken them and that the decision to follow Christ was not something he should put off. Now that didn't lead to a decision today, but the seed was definitely (re)planted and he will have something to think about. I left him off with a million dollar bill tract from livingwaters.com and he gladly said, "thank you." As you can see in the picture posted, he looked more than happy that someone shared with him the Law then the Love of Christ. Don't be afraid to take the chance to share with someone, especially when it is so clearly open for you to do so. The person will most likely be very grateful to you for caring about them enough to share.

Romans 10:14 (New International Version)
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

Are you preparing people for the reality of judgment day and Hell or just being nice to them until you go to Heaven???

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about witnessing. Specifically one type of witnessing that the more I go in my walk seems really ineffective in a number of ways. This is lifestyle witnessing. This is the hope that someone will see what you do and because of your friendship and the way you live they will accept Christ. Of course it is great to lead a life worthy of the calling but to think that your life will be the light that leads others to Christ seems somewhat arrogant to me. I mean, Jesus wasn’t Christian enough for these people to follow him. What makes you think that the way you live will make the difference? Besides this, what if they leave your house, your nice clean house filled with people who were just really nice to them, and get in a horrific accident? What if this happened and they never knew that their sins separated them from God and that they would go to hell apart from Jesus. All they knew was that hey this Christian guy is pretty nice. Make sure we talk to people about sin, forgiveness, Heaven and Hell. Make sure they know how they’ve broken the God’s law and then that Jesus paid the fine for them. Take them through the 10 commandments. Remember Paul said in Romans 7 that he did not know sin but by the law. And again this is not to say don’t be a nice person and let your light shine. I'm saying on top of that, let your friend know the urgency of the Gospel message first and foremost because we don’t know when its our turn to go.
Taken from DiGvotional 14

Day By Day By Grace Bob Hoekstra

So today at both of my church services my Pastor prayed for me and my upcoming trip to California to be part of the Ambassadors Alliance program through living waters.  I had the joy of having many people approach me after the service and share in my excitement for heading there to witness and open air preach.  One particular person, Linda, shared this wonderful devotion from today's day by day devotional from http://blueletterbible.com  I was so blown away by the words that I had to share it here.  Enjoy!

Substantial Glory versus Excelling Glory

But if the ministry of death…was glorious…how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. (2 Corinthians 3:7-11)

These verses proclaim another significant difference between the glory of the old covenant of law and the glory of the new covenant of grace. This difference is seen in various contrasting phrases: "was glorious" versus "more glorious," "had glory" versus "exceeds much more in glory," "made glorious" versus "glory that excels," and "was glorious" versus "much more glorious." The old covenant of law is characterized by substantial glory, whereas the new covenant of grace is characterized by excelling glory.
It is certainly true that the law is glorious. That glory pertains to the holy character of God revealed in its standards. "Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the LORD who sanctifies you." (Leviticus 20:7-8). This revelation of God's holiness in the law also exposes the unholiness of man. "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (Romans 3:19).
When a person struggles and struggles with a major medical problem, it is agonizing to go on and on, not knowing what the problem actually is. It is glorious when someone is able to reveal what the problem actually is. Part of the glory of the law is that it reveals the basic problem under which all humanity struggles: sin. Yet, it is a far more glorious matter to have a remedy for a problem revealed. Grace is that remedy. "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5:20-21).

Dear Lord of glory, I thank You for the glory of Your law, revealing my sin problem. Yet, I praise You even more for the glory of Your grace, providing a remedy for my sin. Lord, as I humbly feed on Your holy Scriptures, may the excelling glory of Your triumphant grace impart increasing righteousness into my daily life, through Jesus my Lord, Amen.

Xbox Judgment Day

So I was sending messages back and forth with a guy after the initial witnessing message. He had it in his mind that there was a set time that judgment day would come upon him. In other words, he thought it was some far off day that didn't concern him yet. He even went as far as to say,"well judgment day isn't anytime soon unless there's something you know that your not telling me." I let him know that it was whenever he died(Hebrews 9:27) and that it could be today if a meteor were to hit his house or some other freak accident. He seemed to never have even thought of that. He, like most, probably figures there's gonna be time for him to get right with God at the end. I felt glad that he responded in a way that made it seem as if he understood what I meant. I sent him a friend request so I could speak with him again about Jesus. Don't be shy to let people know that they don't know when they will die and that it is important to make a decision for Christ and that not making a decision IS making a decision. This is one way in which the "be friends with someone and hope they accept Christ one day" type of witnessing falls short in my opinion. People need to know why they will be seen as sinful on that day and repent accordingly.

2 Corinthians 6:2 (King James Version)

²(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

The mall

So today I got to sit with an older woman and give her a million dollar bill and talked to her about the ten commandments, Heaven and Hell. I told her she couldn't get to Heaven through good works it was by grace alone from Jesus. She thanked me and said she would read everything else later. I pray her heart would be stirred.
Ben


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A start to journal about evangelism

Join Virgil and Ben as we witness and share the gospel and words of encouragement to those reading.