greg the preacher

Courage: I find that biblical, loving, on-fire public preaching of the Gospel has the power to impart courage into the hearts of the hearers. Often times I see on campus weary, discouraged, beaten down Christian students traveling from one class to the other, and whenever they hear the passionate preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ their heads are lifted, they’re refreshed, revived, and receive a renewed sense of mission for ministering to their fellow students. Sometimes the college campus open air preacher can draw a crowd of people for the on campus Christians to minister to and disciple. Courage is contagious! It is something the first century Christians had, something Christ gives and something we all need.

 

Compassion: The public street preacher and campus open air preaching ministry unfortunately has the stigma and bad reputation of being a bunch of angry preachers who feel it’s their calling to tell everyone that God hates them. This “God Hates You” angry preacher image over the past 50 years has high-jacked the biblical, Christ-like calling and ministry of public preaching so much so that the Church as a whole is embarrassed to even associate with those who might do it well. Whenever people find out I’m an open air preacher I recognize I’ve already got 10 strikes against me before I ever open my mouth. I know that we’re a dying breed, hated by the world, killed off by the church, but we’re still loved by God, and we’re an essential part of the Body of Christ. Whenever we find bad teachers, pastors or worship leaders we don’t just eliminate the ministry all together. No! Instead we should be raising up great teachers, well trained pastors and awesome worship leaders. This is exactly what we must do with the open air preaching part of the Body of Christ. We can’t just amputate it and say, “You’re not part of the Body because you don’t look like me or do it my way!” We should strengthen, heal and restore the ministry of open air preaching and make it a strong and vital part of the Church just as God intended. For this to happen we need preachers with broken hearts of compassion, not hardened hearts of hate. Jesus saw the multitudes and was moved with compassion, not aggression, because He saw them as sheep without a Shepherd. Public preaching must be driven by the compassion and love of God to reach people and rescue them from hell. Compassion is also contagious!

 

Clarity: I believe that in the Bible the Main things are the Plain things, and the Plain things are the Main things. Everything in the Bible is important, but not everything in the Bible is equally applicable. It is my goal to be faithful to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the historical Christian faith with clarity. When it comes to publicaly preaching the Gospel it is no time to get distracted by side issues, pet doctrines or in-house Christian debates regarding other things. Those are great topics for coffee talks and follow up discussions, but my 1st Mission is to preach the Gospel and by the grace of God remove obstacles to faith in the Gospel. In summary, “Christ died for your sins and rose from the grave. Trust in Him and you will be saved!” The Bible says in Romans 1:16 that it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is the power of God to salvation for all who believe, not my particular “brand” of Christianity. This simplicity can be very refreshing to some and very offensive to others, but my goal is to always bring it back to the Gospel of Jesus and a person’s relationship to Him. 

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If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.