Is it any more or less futile than GeoFee playing his guitar or playing the clown on the streets of Kamloops, or you or I writing books or articles or conducting lay services and preaching lay sermons?

Many of us try to be teachers or preachers. Some of us postively influence thousands of people with our actions, others only a few. But even if we touch only one person, then our efforts were not in vain. What graces our actions is our intent, not the result.

Hi Mandella-- You don't mean, you think they shouldn't be there , do you?These to me are our bravest men  and woman we have. It is a job for a minister to lead a church. But to preach to those who may in some cases send you to a Dr or worse.Is something else.We are to preach though out the world. Of Christ Jesus.That they stand on a street in New orleans and preach GODS word . Shames me. I pray for them and there Ministry. God Bless.---airclean33

Not at all. It's a public street and they are more than welcome to be there. I just don't get the motivation. At least when Arm or I (referencing his post) lay preach in church, we have an audience that is potentially interested and listening (mostly). These guys are just going out into the street where they will likely not be heard and even when they are heard will not be listened to. They are, as you say, brave but could not that courage and energy do more good if applied in other ways, especially in a troubled city like this?

Mendalla

That's not what Jesus said.

Hi Mendalla--I believe we must be were God saids, we are to be.You have those who walk in Gods way, in your city . Ask God to send more if you want , But be specific to pray for what you want. God Bless --airclean33

Sorry  Two posts

Ah, Mandella, there is not just one group who ministers that way on Bourbon Street. I know of a few myself. Vieux Carre Assembly of God Church and Raven Ministries as well as Bob Harrington," the Chaplain of Bourbon Street".

Is it futile? No.

There are people who get "saved" on Bourbon Street and on Canal Street.  I have seen dozen at a time praying with these folks. 

It is like a revival that doesn't move around and has no tent.

They don't need to move around town to town. The people are tourists and they are coming to you.

Theirs is not a theology I agree with, but ministering like Jesus did, among the prostitutes and the lost... well, I can't fault it.

Or they're just getting their "go ye into all the world" ticket punched.

Personally I have no respect for people who choose the most counter-productive method to spread their religion. It only shows they don't give a rat's ass about the people they're preaching to. They're just there to rack up points.

This type of 'outreach' or whatever you want to call it isn't likely to convince me to declare that I'm Saved.  I've never heard of anyone who has claimed to have been saved by a street preacher.  Do know some people who made major life changes, including church membership, after receiving ongoing care from a Christian.

Doesn't bother me that they are out there yelling away - any more than it bothers me if I find a Jehovah's Witness on my doorstep holding a bunch of wasted paper.

Presumably they think what they are doing has value or they wouldn't be doing it. 

Jesus never said to save anybody but to put the Gospel of the Kingdom out there. It was/is up to us to sow the seeds, but not force the growth. We can save no one but only offer a way. Probably why the first movement was called the Way.

I think that's great. If these people are on the street with loudspeakers, they've more than surrendered their right to be left alone. Have fun with them. Treat them like a tourist attraction.

Some of the best responses to street preaching comes from students. A few years ago there was a "Boot Protest" against Brother Jed, a common sight on US college campuses.

Before that was the inexplicably hilarious "You Ain't Got No Pancake Mix" reply to another campus preacher.

Ignoring them is perfectly fine, but kudos to the kids who think of better responses than simply getting into shouting matches with immoral preachers who are immune to reason. On college campuses, nobody listens to them - they've already lost the debate. The best response is to get them laughed off stage.

I think setting up a soup kitchen or a place to get out of the cold/heat conveys the message of the gospel better.

You're still in New Orleans, Mendella? Why don't you ask them what kind of success they're having?

In the meantime, hope you're having some fun!

I wonder why free speech isn't respected?

Is it common practice for athiests to override somebody elses freedom like that?  You support laughing "at" people?

It's competition in the marketplace of ideas. In one corner, we have a man pushing Christianity. In the other, we have a man saying that the rubber boot is the true Way. The audience decided to listen to the preacher with the boot, which saves one from the evil wetness.

But mostly, if you are going to tell people they're going to hell, because you say so, you deserve all the mockery you're going to get.

As the world goes to hell around us? Literally.

So why hasten it with the absurdity and counterproductivness of street preaching?

Perhaps the only purose it need serve is the same as billboards. The personal motive is of course another matter.

Certainly a good way to keep heaven from getting overcrowded

I know one fundi preacher that said Bourbon St was one of his favourite places in the world ...

I don't know whether hewas enjoing the specticle of sin or just learning deeply how not to act. He seemed to have trouble and had to back over and over like me reading hstory of human atrocies and wondering why they keep getting repeated ... will those blocked to knowledge never learn?

Well I guess creation had to put the flaws somwhere ... enjoy ... it appears to be a cosmological comedy and a'men (sole) learns best from irony ... that dark edge on a vacant stretch mostly bianca'd ... whitewashed? Now let me ponder that term a bit ...

Never been there but I'll bet the real black gospel music is great considering the talent. The white evanglical stuff doesn't inspire me to put back together the band with Elwood.

So are you saying when praying the devil is in the detail AC33?

To much of de light and you'll be like Isaiah 40:31 again consumes anything that wanders out when heh passes over ... ye'll learn to float without some ballast ... a balancing act of the soul that depends on whether you like things as they are with 99% of the world diadvantaged ... is that similar to the Golden Rule or just out of here?

Everwonder about the myths of big birds and the Celstial womb? Perhaps it is beyond you if you let your spirits swell more than yere soul ... such humurs go bust ... and purple reins ...

As a boy, I fastened a bright colored "lure" onto to the end of a line attached to a pole. Got quite good at casting the "lure" into quick running streams and calm lakes. Hundred casts might bring ten nibbles, ten nibbles might bring one catch. Worth the hours invested? No regrets on my part. 

I have had thousands of serendipitous conversations on street corners Never, ever tried to save a soul. Simply not interested in such futility. Every meeting made something possible for the person met, as well as me. Not a score keeper but suspect many subtle benefits followed such encounters. 

In every place I have passed through an impression has been made. No doubt something about foolishness confounding wisdom. After all, what are we to make of God riding into town on a donkey with a rag tag band of misfits following along?

I delight in working a small patch of ground. Amazing to me how it is never ever the same in its manifold particulars, while remaining constant in its basic being. So with the gospels, as I have read them through the years of my journey to this time and place; a rest along the way.

Some years ago I noticed that just about everything Jesus accomplishes is accomplished with no indication of plan or program. He wanders about, almost drifting in a random manner, only barely, but surely, tending towards Jerusalem.

How many encounters with Jesus take place at the brief intersection of two persons? Jesus walking and meeting a blind man by a gate.  Jesus thirsty and meeting a woman by a well. Jesus sought out be a rich young ruler.

Each of these brief, seredepidous encounters produced a dramatic change in outlook. Invariably a limiting factor is overcome and the trajectory of experienced radically altered. Sometimes the beneficiary is Jesus.

For example, he is hungry when he meets the Samaritan woman. The disciples are gone off to obtain food. They return and offer the food obtained. Jesus has already been satisfied. His encounter with the woman has given him access to the hidden manna; the stuff o life.

I have been a street walker from my natal days. Mother walked everywhere carrying me to term. Then she walked with me in a baby carriage. Then an interlude where she carried me from village to village on a bicycle. And always stopping to pass the time of day with friends, neighbours and strangers met along her way.

My life has led me to and through many cities and towns. I have lived in the centre, in the East and in the West. In every place I have walked a circuit. Along that circuit I have encountered what would constitute a small multitude; one person at a time. In each encounter the Grace of God in me made possible the emergence of some supportive or encouraging word or deed.

In the streets of Winnipeg, I have walked drunks home late into the night. Tucked them into their beds, asking one last time if they would relinquish the bottle of whatever before I walked away. Almost always being told that tomorrow was the quitting day. One in a while flushing the contents. No guaranteed outcomes. No pledges. A simple sigh of the divine love manifest in a common person concerned for the lost, the broken and the forsaken.

Pup is feeling neglected and calling me to play a bit.

In Vancouver I walked from our home down to Commercial drive on a daily basis. Sometimes, when Barbara was travelling, I would go down in the evening. One such evening I was approaching the liquor store. A popular spot for the assorted buskers and beggars.

Noticed a guitar play and a painter at each other over occupation of the desirable space. Clown nose comes out and on. Fifty dollar bill comes out of the wallet, as I make take a position at centre stage. Some inviting gestures and folk slow or stop to notice.

Grand pantomime with the fifty in clear view, like a magician who can make fifties disappear into thin air. When optimum attention is draw, I ceremoniously tear the fifty in half. I extend one half to the musician and the other to the painter. Now they have a reason to cooperate. While they negotiate I slip away, returning the clown nose to its place.

Why? Well I imagine folk going home to their dinners with a story to tell. You should hear what I saw today? To me, this sounds more like Jesus at work than just about anything I learned in Seminary. And.... it is much more enjoyable than sitting in committee quarrelling ways of getting money so we can reach out to the world.

Off to relax with partner and pup.

Geo,

That stopping just to talk to some poor souls neglected by society (that brutal place we live in) perhaps makes more of a dent on the subliminal character than all the preachers in hell.

God bless mi mon ... and may the advocate not know your gone for a while .. sos you can have some peace too before the continuance (that's Tamiyr in the myth of Juda'n powers as they crashed in the face of love) ... mankinds greatest fear! Thatt fear that your neigbour will get greater fortune of any kind out of life ... but wisdom is generally not part  of that pot'a our gents (argenre, argos, or moving gold; argent?).

Someone made a fortune on On Golden Pond and the sublime message there ...

Real lyres don't get it ... can't reverberate to the tunes ...