June 2009

OPEN AIR MINISTRIES-PHILADELPHIA

“Resurrection, this is our aim.  To raise the dead is our mission!  We are like Peter at Joppa, or Paul at Troas, we have a young Dorcas or Eutychus to bring to life.”    Charles Spurgeon

June 2009

Dear Friends,

On a warm Wednesday, David Braun and I traveled across the Walt Whitman to minister in Camden, NJ.  It was a very productive day of giving out tracts and talking to a number of people.  The Lord even allowed us to do a few sleight of hand gospel illusions at a bus stop at the transportation center.  Just as we were about to leave, I struck up a conversation with Donald who was sitting in a wheel chair and is a recovering drug addict.  Donald shared with me that he had trusted in Jesus at the Salvation Army as a teenager.  At this point, I could have assumed that Donald was saved, but I sensed through our conversation that he was lost.  So I asked him, “Why did you trust in Jesus?”  He responded, “I have no idea.”  Immediately, I was able to share the gospel in regards to our sin and needing to be saved from God’s wrath through Jesus.  It was if he had heard it for the first time.  It makes you wonder how many people are out there who have no clue as to the true gospel message.

Ocean City Senior Week 2009

On our second night on the boardwalk, I met Myra who had listened diligently to Evangelist Mark Johnson preach the gospel.   Myra is like many people with addictions who hope that God will bail them out of the mess they have made of their lives as the deal with consequential judgment as a result of their lifestyle.  Through God’s help, I was able to share the reality of the sin nature and our need to have its power broken by the new birth.  Myra listened vary carefully with tears in her eyes as she finally understood that God could forgive her and deliver her from the slavery of sin.  Each night, the Lord gave us one divine encounter after another.  Each day we prayed for God to add souls into his kingdom and he answered our prayers.

It’s not uncommon to meet some of the same people each night as they get bored walking around and decide to chill out with the street preachers.  One boy named Tim heckled me real well one night and I lovingly answered his questions and subtly rebuked him for his lack of respect.  You could see him sober up in regards to his attitude and one of our workers Bradon Webb interacted with him one to one.  The next night he stopped to apologize for being rude and thanked us for spending time with him to answer his questions.  Tim is a few steps closer to finding that narrow road that leads to heaven.

Benny walked into one of our open air meeting with his girl friend.  The next night he heard Evangelist John Poogie share the gospel message at the biblical sand sculptures.  John escorted him down the boardwalk and asked me to talk to him. I asked Benny how I could help him and he responded, “How can I be saved?”  I was taken a back at first, because we meet a lot of mockers and scoffers each night, but Benny was dead serious.  I could also see that his girl friend was not too happy with his new interest.  As I concluded our conversation, I told Benny that all he had to do was to invite Christ into his life.  Benny walked away with a big smile on his face and a new life.

After I finished preaching one night a nine year old boy came up to me to tell me that he really liked my painting and message.  I could see that Bradon was talking to his Father, so I pulled out my evangecube and shared the gospel with this young boy.  As I looked up, I could see that his mother was in tears.  Unbeknownst to me, she had walked up to be with her son and was hearing the gospel message also.  In fact, the whole family was being challenged to live for Jesus.  The mother gave me a big hug and said, “Thank you; you do not know how much this means to me.”  There are many more stories to be told and some of them will be told in heaven, because God is able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine.  Thanks for all your prayers and gifts, which allowed us to preach and share God’s word with thousands of people.  God Bless You!

Proclaiming Jesus,

Joe Toy, Jr.

PS.   Don’t forget to consider helping us out with our Back to School Supplies Outreach.

2009 Spring Break Outreach in Miami, FL

Mardi Gras Outreach 2009

Christmas Stocking Outreach-2008

We are so grateful to all those who helped us this year. By the grace of God we handed out over 2,000 Christmas stockings at 9 various locations in and around Philadelphia. Many moms, dads, kids and other family members heard the Christmas story and the gospel at every location. The weather was a mixed bag of warm, bitter cold, sleet, drizzle and two rain outs, which pushed us into the next week. We were blessed to have two Churches from Lancaster County, PA come to help us in handing out stockings. One of our adult helpers had the privilege of leading one of the father’s to Jesus at our Wednesday site. There was some opposition to our ministry as a few grinches showed up. One who was drunk and uncooperative in leaving arrived during the gospel presentation. Another accused us of keeping him awake at 3:30 in the afternoon and threatened to harm us if we didn’t turn down our sound system. One of the fathers called the police on this man, but they showed up way to late to be of any help. I’m glad God is control, because the man left after of number of choice profanities and threats and never returned. A number of parents encouraged us after the program and told us to not stop coming, because they need us in their community. Their were a number of amazing highlights, especially the day when we were all set up and it started to sleet. The parents looked at us with expression of you have to be kidding. We shortened the program, but everyone stayed till the end. There were easily 150 -200 people there. On a dreary cold Wednesday, which never warmed up like predicted by the weathermen, we had 26 people come from Faith EC Church in Lancaster, PA. This group brought a number of quilts and blankets to give out to the folks. There was great interaction between our help and the people of the community. At one of our school sites it was bitter cold. I believe it was 19 degrees with a wind chill of 8 degrees. This days program was short and sweet, but that’s ok, because most of the kids come to Pastor Nick’s Friday night church. On a cold cloudy afternoon, we worked two sites in Camden, NJ back to back. Our friends from Trinity EC Church in Lancaster, PA were a big help in handing out stockings and helping us set up our equipment. On our way home, we stopped by a drug rehab called My Brother’s Keeper and I was surprised to see that my old ministry van is still working and is a big blessing to their ministry. We blitzed the neighborhood and gave out stockings to a number of kids and families. It was a great long week of spreading God’s love.

Christmas Stocking Outreach 2008

December 13, 2008-Camden, NJ

We were blessed to have a group from Lancaster County visit and assist us today.  Their group leader was Peter Ogilvie who was impacted spiritually by the open air ministry of Sam Frey and David Braun.  We took the group to Camden, NJ to work in two housing developments to prepare for our Christmas stocking outreach.  I t was cold day in the thirties, but we thank God for the sun as it helped to make it feel warmer.  It is always a help when you have 15 people to help you with games and other activities.  The  team interacted with our sidewalk kids real well.  Many of the kids heard the gospel when the team used the wordless bracelets to counsel them before and after the program.  God blessed us with 25 kids at the first location and 45 kids plus a number of moms at the second sight.  I was able to pray for one woman this day as she has lost custody of her kids and gave her some gifts for her kids.

Temple University-December 4, 2008

Today had to be the coldest day this year that I’ve been out preaching on campus.  My theme for the week was to preach from the book  A Charlie Brown Christmas. With the Lord’s help, I drew a picture of Charlie Brown and snoopy out in the snow by some Christmas trees.  My point was to try to show the students that Charlie Brown had forgotten the true meaning of Christmas, much like our culture.   His good friend Linus reminded him of the birth of Jesus.  Most of my preaching was sound bite preaching as the students did not want to hang around in the cold.  One students commented, ” I thought you would have something a little more fiery and judgmental to speak on today”  I told him that I was not a humbug about Christmas.  We talked for a while and I was able to share my testimony with him.  He was very open to the gospel, but not ready to commit to Christ.   Later on that day, I was interviewed by the school paper.  I was able to share the gospel with the reporters and cameraman.  It will be interesting to see if the article is fair and balanced.  They wanted to present to the readers a biography of who I am and why I come.   I am always apprehensive when doing these interviews, because I do not want to dishonor God.

4th & Sommerset-Sidewalk Sunday School-Nov. 26, 2008

We held a pizza party for the kids today after our sidewalk program.  We had around 50 kids come out on a cold day.  We taught on power point number three, which is Jesus died on the cross for us.  I used the chemical cross illusion to show that the blood of Jesus will wash away our sin.  Around four boys came up to me for prayer in regards to their sin after the program.  I was able to counsel them in the plan of salvation and pray with them.  we have lost a few of workers this year, which has made the ministry harder, especially with personal work afterwards.  One the bright spot, I am getting to know a few of the moms and dads.  We are slowly gearing up for our Christmas stocking outreach, which is our final blast for sidewalk.  So far, I have around 1,300 Christmas stockings in my home.  we are trusting many souls to be saved from Dec. 15-20, 2008.

Sidewalk Sunday School-November 18-21, 2008

It was an extremely cold week for sidewalk sunday school kid’s ministry. For November, we had temperature much closer to January, with daily temperatures in the high thirties. On Thursday, we finally got to visit one of our sites where rain had washed out the previous two weeks of ministry. As I traveled to the site, it was very cloudy and I asked God to please bring the sun out. And guess what, by the time we started, the sun was shining brightly. The radiant heat of the sun is so helpful on these cold days. Near the end of the program, while I was teaching the main story, it clouded over and got windy and started to snow. Here we were trying to end our outreach in a minor snow squall. It was an amazing sight, but God’s word went forth. On the next day, we sent up in a school yard. I had previously ran this sight the previous four years, but had moved on to pioneer a new sight. Many of the boys ran up to me shouting, “Pastor Joe, do you remember me?” It’s hard to describe the joy that fills your heart as God reminds you of the impact that you have in the kid’s lives. On this cold day, forty kids stayed out to hear the gospel. Many of the kids were prayed with and counseled. Our theme of the week was Jesus taking our place on the cross. We used the chemical cross illusion to show how Jesus took away our sins with His Blood. Little by little, the kids are understanding the points of the gospel.

University of Delaware-November 10, 2008

Evangelist Mark Johnson and I preached at the Kirkbride building, which is our usual location.  Two days prior to our visit, a young 18 year old college student died at a Frat party from alcohol consumption.  It seems that he passed out and was laid on a bed and died in his own vomit.  What a tragedy!  Needless to say, we preached on being prepared for death and the pride of being presumptuous that you will live a long time.  I ended my day preaching on, “Is he in a better place?”  Upon returning to the campus on November 17, we learned that the Frat held an all Greek keg party in his honor.  It is so true what Paul wrote in Romans 1 that when you reject God and choose an immoral lifestyle that God gives you over to a reprobate mind(non-functioning mind).  As one student on campus told us, “isn’t that sick!  They could have at least sent flowers to the funeral service in his honor.”  Truly, many college students are on a highway to Hell.