A Street Performer Changes Our Plans – Portsmouth Evangelism

It was a nice day as we arrived in Portsmouth. Unlike previous weeks, today was much busier. As we walked through the city centre, we noticed one of the local street performers/buskers, who knows us and very kindly sets up away from the preaching. But then, as we neared our preaching location, we heard another performer. He was talented, but very loud. We have seen this busker in Southampton, but never in Portsmouth. His presence today certainly changed our plans!

Instead of preaching, we decided to focus on tract work and one-to-one witnessing. We rested in the fact that God is sovereign, so in His good pleasure, He had ordained for us to be there, and also the busker.

Throughout the outreach, lots of people took tracts or browsed the material on the literature table. Team members also reported having numerous gospel conversations.

At one point, I spoke with the street performer. At first, he was a bit tense, but I explained that we weren’t trying to shut him down. Rather, we just wanted to know if he had planned to have any breaks, as we’d preach when he stopped playing. The man warmed up to us, and later, when he had his lunch break, he let us know.

His break was only about five minutes long, so I quickly set up and preached the good news. I spoke about how God made us, but all of us have turned away from Him. Yet He, in love, pursues us. I preached about the cross and the resurrection, then called on people to repent and believe. At the end of the message, four people received copies of John’s Gospel. Then the street performer started again.

This wasn’t how we planned today, but the Lord had planned it this way. Perhaps there was someone who needed a tract, and not preaching. Whatever the case, we know the Lord worked all things together for good.

SDG!

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Josh Williamson is a full-time evangelist with The Open-Air Mission. Since 1853, OAM has been sharing the good news on the streets of the United Kingdom. To stay updated about the work of the Mission, please sign up for the free quarterly magazine and monthly prayer notes.SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAGAZINE AND PRAYER NOTES