Battle Log

The Battle Log is the place where reports from each of the Operation 513 evangelism teams are posted.

It gives you a brief idea about what occurred during the outreach and some of the highlights.

Even though there is not a report from each team on the Battle Log every week, all these teams do meet according to the schedule (usually weekly).

So please keep them in prayer and consider joining one if it is in your area.

Christchurch (NZ) Team

I decided to start taking notes after I have interesting chats with strangers on the streets.  That way I’ll be able to remember to write about them in this monthly report.

 

Because of that, I now have four interesting stories to encourage you with.

 

I’m trialing a new schedule, and so this month Roger and I tried switching our Tuesday Riccarton outreach to Thursday.  The first time we tried this (April 23rd) I had a wonderful time of ministry.  Three of the stories will be from that outreach.  The last story will be from the Friday (24th) outreach in the city.

 

Often when I start a street outreach, I’m already feeling quite tired from earlier work online.  I always start in prayer, but, if I’m tired like this, I often don’t feel up to hunting for a conversation (walk up).  To get myself rolling, I pick a spot and just start handing out tracts to those that pass by.  Before I know it, I’m in a chat, and then, suddenly, I’ve had multiple chats and 2 hours have flown by!  So, can I encourage you, if street outreach seems too daunting to you, try doing what I do - lower the bar so it’s not so daunting, and before you know it, God has used you in ways you didn’t imagine possible.  God delights to show his strength through our weakness - we just have to be willing to take the first step, no matter what that step is (e.g., taking an opportunity to swing an every day conversation to deeper things).  If we practice, over time we will grow, and what was once daunting won’t be.  Jesus is worthy, so be encouraged!

 

So, it was like this on that Thursday.  I started by handing out tracts, to get myself going.  Next thing, I’m having a great chat with 3 teens who had been handed Gideon Bibles by someone earlier in the day!  Those teens had religious backgrounds, but weren’t clear on the gospel - so after I clarified that, I was able to point them to John in their new Bibles.

 

I walk a circuit on both sides of Riccarton Road, between Rotherham Street and the Mall - there are bus stops on both sides of the road, which are very profitable spots for gospel chats.

 

I was at one of these bus stops - it was very crowded - when I had an opportunity to engage some very interested school kids in conversation.  It was a short chat, because their bus came, and they had to dash (not without taking tracts first).

 

It was then that I noticed someone was standing right next to me, on the other side.  I assessed the environment, and I concluded that this person had been listening to the chat I was having, and wanted to talk to me.  And I sensed a trap, they were positioning themselves hoping I would start a chat with them and then they would give me a piece of their mind.  I weighed it up, and I decided Jesus was worthy - I was going to step into the trap and see what happened!

 

So, after I introduced myself, they cut to the chase: “I want to talk about abortion”.  I knew, in this situation, that that was actually a distraction from what we really needed to talk about.  They were expecting a fight.  They threw some punches (not literally), but I just dodged and didn’t fight back.  Instead, I tried to step the conversation down a level: “So, how do we know what is right and wrong?”  My tactic was to move the conversation to how we know God is real, and therefore God is the objective basis for right and wrong.

 

But, the issue wasn’t intellectual.  Soon, the real issue bubbled up: 1) they hate God because he allows evil and suffering & 2) they hate God because God will judge them for what they love: sin (although this point was masked behind their first point).

 

I tried to address this intellectually, but that just caused an unreasonable eruption from them.  So I decided to move into listening mode – let them vent.  And they did.  Question after question tumbled out of them - but they didn’t want an answer, they just wanted to express their hatred for God.

 

I ended the conversation by saying, “You’ve asked a lot of really good questions, but I don’t think, at the moment, you are really looking for answers to them.  My name is Glen”, and I offered my hand.  They didn’t shake it, but gave me their name.  So I said, “, I really hope we get another chance to talk, but all the best for now, okay?”  And I moved on.

 

Now, to natural eyes, that conversation looks like a failure - they weren’t corrected in their worldview, they weren’t challenged in their sin, they didn’t hear the wonder of the gospel, they didn’t humbly come to Christ in contrition over their sin.  But to me, that conversation was Gold.  At the very least, their perception of the Christian worldview was challenged (we don’t hate those we disagree with), they had a chance to see how unreasonable their conduct was, they had a chance to hear what they think out loud, with some gentle push back from their ‘enemy’.  God can use that in their lives, and for his glory - ultimately, in either his justice or his mercy being magnified through their life.  Oh, let it be his mercy!  May they come to a place where they are ready to really talk about right and wrong, and hear the hope of forgiveness, through Jesus.  It may not be through me, but that’s okay.  God is in control.

 

Oh, wow, I’ve spent most of my time talking about that one, short, conversation.  But it was really special to me.  (Just so you know, I try to spend no more than one hour writing this report, I’d rather spend my time actually engaging unbelievers! ;)  This is also why you’ll notice heaps of spelling and grammar issues, I don’t really spend time reviewing what I wrote.)

 

So, I’ll skim over the other chats I wanted to write about:

 

Later, I got to engage 4 teens (at the bus stop on the other side).  They were firing so many questions at me, I couldn’t keep up.  But, for one of them in particular, I think they also weren’t really looking for answers, it was like she was trying to overwhelm or confuse her mind so she could avoid talking about the hard stuff: sin, death, hell, pain, truth.  The questions were like bad self medication for anxiety; rather than stopping, facing truth and discovering true hope and relief.

 

And then I encountered a guy, who was interested in what I was doing.  I asked him my usual question: “what do you think happens after life?”.  He said, “heaven”.  I said, “Why exactly can you go to heaven when you die?”.  He said, “because Jesus died for my sin”.  I said, “Good answer, so, do you have to be good to get to heaven?”.  He said, “no”.  I said, “Okay, so, out of 100, how sure are you that you’ll go to heaven?”.  He said, “100%”.  We quickly realised we were on the same page.  I was so encouraged to hear about his church, and the weekly outreach work they are doing: door to door, and on the streets.  So great!

 

The last chat I want to mention was on the next day: Friday, in the city.  I ended up in Cathedral Square and I was moving down Worcester Boulevard, when I passed a man sitting on a street bench.  I offered him a tract, but he ignored me – or, he didn’t notice me, because after I passed, he realised I had said something to him, and he looked up.  I stopped, and went back and offered him the tract, he took it, and made it obvious he wanted to know what it was about.  From there, I was able to sit next to him and have a very long chat.  By the end of which, he was asking the hardest and deepest questions – showing that, even in his resistance, he was hearing and understanding what I was challenging him about.  If my memory serves me right, he accepted a gospel of John from me in the end.  Wonderful!

 

May God use our feeble efforts, for his glory.  Only he can change a heart.

 

Thank you for praying for this ministry - it’s (the prayer) so vital and appreciated.

 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday April 15th 2026 from 1030-1130

Today, I teamed up with Sue and Peter from Joyce Meyer Ministry again with Jason not available. Though the two of them are less experienced, but they have already expereicned the empowering of God through the Holy Spirit so they were doing outreach more at ease to be moved and inspired by the guidance of the Spirit. They have both long actually very long chat and short chat. I spent some time in back them up but in the mean time I still got many fruitful conversation. The stand out one was with an Indian who was open to the gospel with a child liked mind. God also gave me challenge dealing with a Muslim from Montenegro. He seemed to be mindful to use a lot of biased facts to discard Jesus and Christianity. So , I did not stop him doing so, but just stood my ground and show friendliness to keep the conversation open till his bus came.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Operation 513 Battle Log for Toowong on Tuesday April 14 from 1330 - 1500.

It was another singleton day serving alone here at Toowong. It was the peak hour of bus taking students to UQ, so initial few chats were fragmented. One was with a main lander whom I caught up many times and appears quite open and positive.

The climax of the day was with George from Vietnam. He is the typical child like person who fell for the gospel immediately and admitted he needs to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord of his life.

 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday April 8th 2026 from 1030-1130

Today, I was doing street outreach on my own again. All my team mates were either occupied in other things or away on trip. Predominately, I was led to chat with Main lander Chinese which use to be difficult people group to get connected. But today, it was all good. First with an elderly from He bei, waiting for his family so we had a long chat about our life back in China. He was open to chat on anything as such I did high my identity as a Christian and a Pastor, rather, I use my life testimony to show him another way of life in Christ with hope and peace. Then I was led to approach an elderly lady who appeared not quite happy, and gave me an initial cold face. I was surprised to learn later she is a Christian so I turned to check on her assurance of salvation which she appeared OK to give a 100% certainty to heaven, but the 2nd question exposed her wrong understanding of the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. She deemed that she has done enough good thing to earn the right to heaven. I clarified her misconception but she seemed not too care about the advice. There were several fragmented and broken chat on gospel but God led me to approach a boy of 16 years old who was born in Australia but was brought back to receive primary school education in China, from12 years as such his Chinese is good. Despite his family has no religion following, but he appeared most open and receptive to Gospel and admitted that he is a good boy but not perfect as such there is needs for him to accept Jesus as Savior to cleanse his sin and made him perfectly free of sin record becoming a new recreation. I encouraged him to read the tract I left behind for him and tell Gos his decision to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord of his life through prayer. Ask God to find him a path to grow when he is still in Grade 11 next year. So, it is all the sovereign Will of God to save someone in His way and in His time.

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday April 1st 2026 from 1030-1130

Today, I unexpectedly served as singleton again when others all became unavailable. Sunnybank is a very volatile mission field. At time it can be very fruit bearing harvest field with numerous choices for outreach. At time, it can suddenly become a very quiet place or barren land facing rejection more than receptive chats. Today is the latter, but it is part of the training by God that we took it easy. Having said that, there were still a few meaningful chats especially with an Aborigine boy of Grade 12 with hoime twon Mt Isa. But he is well aware of Yarrabah, so we have a very good chat sharing with him the power of Goid despite he claimed he is not yet a Christian.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 at Toowong on Tuesday Mar 31st, 2026 from 1030-1200.

Kingdom business as usual, I resumed my regualr street outreach at Toowong today despite of rain, and a bit low hoarse voice from the tireness of the just finished Yarrabah trip.

The Spirit led me to have quite good chats with gospel targets of all non-beleivers status from Hang zhou, China, Curaçao

Country in the Caribbean Sea, Pakistanese and two young men from Dubai of United Arab Emirates. Apart from the girl from China, all of the rest appeared all open and receptive to the gospel espeicallhy the need of every one for Jesus to cleanse our record of sin to zero boming a new creation in Chirst to inherit the Heavenly Kingdom identity and blessing of this renewed sonship.

God was good to me holding up rain whiIe I was on the street. My Voice was OK to support me to do my routine weekly outreach ministry.

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday March 25th 2026 from 1030-1130

It was always a delight to serve as a team. Edwards joined Hung today wth Anne also joining at a later time as usual. It was a good match of team work with Edwards who tends to make qucik approach and usher the core of the gospel in the quicker manner. Hung uses to take a slower pace and taking patience to sway some hesitant gospel target to engage into the conversations. Nevertheless, it was also a fruitful day in consideration of the number of people approached.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Battle Log of Operation 513 at Toowong on Tuesday Mar 24th, 2026 from 1030-1200.

I serve singleton again. It was curious enough that I lately met many Indonesia Christians. Today the girl was even very clear about salvation with 100% assurance. But somehow she appeared not too open to share about her Christian walk and the way she was converted to Christianity.

There were many more fragmented conversations due to quick bus schedule.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Last month I wrote about a multi-’coincidental’ encounter with a man during our week of outreach in Dunedin.  Well, I have a follow up report.  He found me on Facebook and sent a friend request.  I initially deleted it, but then I suddenly realised who it was, so I sent him a friend request, which he accepted.  He messaged me, and we have been able to continue the gospel conversation, mainly focusing correctly interpreting various passages of scripture.  When doing street evangelism, you don’t often get to do a lot of follow up, so this has been nice!  God is good!

 

I haven’t done an A&P show for a while now, but it’s been so encouraging knowing others are picking up the slack.  Daniel led an outreach to the Mayfield A&P Show this month.  Mike, Rebecca & Sam joined him.  Good work guys!  Also, Brian and Laura have been leading outreaches to various A&P shows in the area – at least 3 in recent times.  Great stuff!

 

It’s been such a joy reviewing the photos I took this month.  Some of them bring back good memories of gospel encounters.  I’m not going to have the time to talk about them all.  And I’ve probably forgotten some really good ones.

 

I was down at the corner of Colombo and Cashel one Friday afternoon.  I was with John when 2 kids, on Lime scooters, came up to me and stopped.  One of them said, “Hi Glen, how are you?”  When he saw my look of unrecognition on my face he said, “My name is Charlie, you talked to me a few years ago in Riccarton”.  That was super encouraging to have him remember my name after all that time!  But I checked, “so, if you’ve talked to me, can you remember why you can go to heaven when you die?”  He thought about it for a few moments before saying, “Because Jesus died on the cross” - good answer.  And so I followed up, “do you believe that?”.  And then his defenses slowly started to rise, he said, “Well, I’m not sure if it’s real”.  From there, we went into a discussion about how we know it’s real and why we reject it: ultimately out of a love of sin!  Sadly, at the moment, Charlie and his friend are rejecting Jesus at the moment.  I challenged him on the urgency, he may not get another 2 years to consider, he needs to accept the gospel now.

 

On a Tuesday, in Riccarton, I was pounding the streets handing out tracts and striking up conversations when a group of high school age kids passed.  I usually don’t have the energy to take on a large group (there were at least 10 of them), but I ended up in multiple conversations with them on the street corner.  Some of them were trying to shock me by how bad they were, some were mocking, but some were listening.  You know you’ve got their attention when the hard questions come out.  One kid in particular was doing that.  It’s pretty hard to hold multiple conversations all at the same time, but I somehow managed it - I’m not sure how effective my words were, but these kids were engaged enough to sit down and listen to the few snippets of gospel that was coming their way.  I was very encouraged.  During the conversations, tracts were handed out to most, if not all, those kids.  Sadly, as they left, I noticed a spread of finely ripped tract on the pavement.  I picked it all up and put it in the bin, but I rejoice, because even if one discarded the good news, maybe another will keep it, and one day read it.  The gospel is the power of God for salvation.

 

So many other wonderful opportunities over the month.  The last one I’ll mention was from last Tuesday.  Three young lads came past, they all went to different local churches, yet they weren’t clear on the gospel.  It was a fairly short chat, but a wonderful one, because you could see these kids really processing the gospel in a fresh way.  I challenged them to read John, Acts and Romans - don’t trust what a crazy old man, with a grey beard is saying, go to the primary source - your soul is at stake!  It turns out these kids were friends with Andy’s son!  It’s a small world; you just don’t know what God will do with your feeble efforts; step out in faith and talk to someone about Jesus today.  All glory to God alone!

 

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Battle Log of Operation 513 at Sunnybank on Wednesday March 11th 2026 from 1030-1130

Praised be to God for turning a new page of Street Outreach partnering with a team of four from the Joyce Meyer Ministry Group. They have planned to come every 4 weeks with a team of 4 but only three of them turned up today, namely Jason, Peter and Su. They actually are not novice with prior experience. It is part of the design of their ministry development program to do street outreach and we are honor to be picked to partner with them. We did not spend long time to introduce ourself nor great lecture on the technical how aspects. A very natural team spirit quickly built amongst us through mutual trust and respect that all we do and serve is to follow the guidance of the Spirit to seek one on one divine appointment for a chat. Even Su who claimed to have least outreach experience was at ease to follow the flow of guidance to connect with people. She actually was moved to connect with Ann, who usually arrived half an hour late after doing evangelism somewhere else. The clicked and Su followed Ann to venture away to seek new gospel sharing opportunity. I also saw good nature of Peter, keep rendering care and help to people around apart from doing the gospel sharing by words by expressing it out by work of love and care. So, I really rate high for this lovely team that they had been serving with the awareness of the presence of God as such they empty themselves and free their mind to do whatever the the Holy Spirit lead and guide them to so. Jason was even moved to pray for the gospel target about an issue frustrating him recently.

It was a great team effort in display to day amongst us and with God by our side.

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