Where is Nepal?

I have been in Chicago for the last week or so and it has been a great encouragement to me. I was able to preach outside Moody Bible Institute again and as usual there were mixed reviews. But many students came up to us and encouraged us by bringing us drinks and one professor asked us into his classroom but the security on the campus wouldn’t allow us to go on campus. One student was so thankful that we came he said that the Lord has really been speaking to him about what he does with his time as a response to the message that Ken Fleck preached on what will you do with your life for Jesus? A couple students said that they couldn’t understand why we would preach to Moody students. I had to explain that College students need to hear about Jesus no matter where they go to college. After I explained that there was one student that still didn’t think it was necessary that we were there but others like I said were encouraged. In hindsight I have to reflect on schools like Harvard and Yale and Princeton that used to be Christian Theological power houses and now aren’t even Christian colleges. I would hope and pray that this would never happen to Moody Bible Institute but maybe it could?

Also while here I was able to preach to the commuters at the train stations in Glen Ellyn and was blessed to be joined by Pastor Kelly Brady form Glen Ellyn Bible Church. He would hand out tracts while I preached and it was a real blessing and encouragement to be with such a God fearing man. I got to sing and preach and even though the weather prevented people from waiting outside for too long for the trains there was one time in particular when the train stopped just before the platform and was held up for a few minutes so I could really exposit for awhile! What a blessing.

On the train I asked the employee that takes tickets if we can preach on the train and he said I don’t see why not but we better ask his supervisor. So I asked her and she said she ahas been working on the train for years and has never seen anything like that but that she would like to listen to me preach. So I went back to the car that we were in and shared a message. I had a guy that was a beginner heckler (I think he needed to go to heckler school to get better at it) but I kept my cool and just stuck with the Gospel. What a blessing afterwards to have the woman employee to say how blessed she was and she even apologized for the behavior of the heckler!

Ken and I went also to Chicago for two days and preached in the city at all the tourists spots and high pedestrian areas including the Marilyn Monroe statue, the Chicago Bean, Water Tower Place, Michigan Avenue, and to the cab drivers that drove us around. Throughout the city we used the half mile haler which is quite loud (really really loud at times) and it could be heard for blocks! We had favor from the police and were able to hand out tons of tracts! I was able to witness to an Americorps volunteer as she asked me to relocate to a different area and we kindly obliged and additionally to a security guard that had backslidden that I believe the Lord had me witness to him to encourage him to return unto the Lord!

Shawn Holes preaching on the train from Glen Ellyn to Chicago

Shawn Holes preaching at The Bean in Chicago

So I am off to Nepal. Thank you for the prayers and support. I will try to update as I go and if you get a chance give Lisa and Will a call. I’m sure they would love to hear from you.

May the Lord bless you as you bless the Lord.

In His grip,

Shawn

Shawn Holes and family December 2011

The road trip was wonderfully amazing for the 3 and a half weeks that Don Karns and we traveled through Oregon, Nevada, Arizona. New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. William and Lisa have been staying home this last year as I travel so it is a real hardship to be gone…We preached at 16 campuses, traveled 4,000 miles, handed out thousands of tracts, Preached in major cities including Las Vegas, Reno, Denver, Sante Fe, and Boulder among some.  We preached at 3 “occupies”, and met up with some amazing brothers and sisters in Christ.  Perhaps you were able to follow us on Facebook?  Oh there were some really difficult times, trials, tribulations, persecution, false claims, etc.  But there were great blessings, beautiful fellowship, sincere conviction, bold spirit filled and anointed preaching from the brothers I was with.  We stayed in churches, on floors, two nights in hotels, and in homes.  We ate like Kings but Don and I both recovering from stent surgery are learning to eat less.  Much of the video and photos that I took while on the first two thirds of the trip was lost because of a computer malfunction (hard drive and logic board replacement).  I still take lots of pictures while traveling and should take more video than I do but most of it was lost and not backed up.  We met up with brothers in Portland to preach in the streets (Paval, and Jim) , Josh Bales flew in from Idaho to join in, the guys from California came out to share Good News in Oregon (Ken, Kevin Borden, Mike Lasiter), (Roger Hertzler and family housed us and went to the campuses with us along with Scott Schones),  brother Ron Allen joined us at SOU in Ashland, Marty joined us in Vegas, Kelly Engebritson and his wife housed us in NM, Steve Johnson put us up in Colorado Springs, Craig Bauman and his family put us up in Cheyenne, etc.  Thank you Jesus for providing for us as we travel… Amazing.

At times I am utterly overcome with grief and broken at how horribly blasphemous students treat the Gospel in their lives.  If you could only see how much these students want there to be many ways to God.  They boast of their good works.  Many are Christians that say that Allah is just another name for God.  There is much fornication, pornography, lasciviousness, drunkenness, ecumenicalism, socialism, humanism, relativism, atheism, and religion being practiced and preached on these campuses.  But the Good News was shared in love.  Men were called to repentance and the Good News of the cross was shared. 

Nepal- the Nepal trip is still on the “praydar” for the family.  A church has purchased me a ticket but we are still waiting on the Lord to see if He would allow Lisa and William to go as well.  If you have been following what Jesse Boyd and Rick have been doing over there I’m sure you realize there is a request and a prayer for more laborers.  Jesse has translated books of the Bible along with Bishnu who is a national evangelist, and they distribute those Bibles and also hand out thousands of tracts.  The Muslims and Hindus are really hungry for anything having to do with Christianity, opposition is still very prevalent though at times.  There are many Christian groups in the country that don’t do any sharing of the Gospel and consider making a friendship the same as sharing the Gospel (sound familiar as to what is happening here in America?).  If you personally would please consider coming along side us as a family and support this trip financially it would be a blessing.  Or perhaps your church is burdened with these souls in Nepal and would like to send us over there to help out.  Or maybe the Lord is convicting you to go?  We hope to leave the U.S. around the 15th of January.  Many times people ask me how do we survive financially?  It opens great doors of boasting as to how the Lord uses churches and individuals to send us as a family into the harvest field.  So, thank you everybody for your help!  It is very much appreciated.  You could contribute to any ministry in the world and you have been gracious enough to support our.  Again, thank you.

It was really funny what happened the other day.  Pastor gave a message on handing out tracts this last Sunday.  He encouraged us all to “lose tracts” as we go about our daily routines.  So I took that charge and applied it to when I bought something at Fred Meyer that afternoon.  As I handed out the tract to the cashier she said, “everybody keeps handing me these today!”  Boy, I thought that is really good to hear.  So I asked her if she was a believer and she said yes.  So I added well, let the message be an encouragement to you and consider handing it to someone else.  It is a good problem to have when someone has been handed a tract several times in one day. Let’s have this happen to us more often.

Since I have been home for the last few weeks from traveling I have had lots of opportunities to preach in the streets and hand out tracts.  During the day families, shoppers, and professionals are out walking.  As usual I run into some opposition while publicly proclaiming the Gospel but it is such Good News I just can’t keep it in!  Other times though I get to pray with people and also get encouragement from some.  One woman that is encouraged by our ministry helps out at the pro life crisis pregnancy center.  She gives Lisa gifts as an encouragement to her and our family and I will often times run into her at the market.  Its very Kind.  One man that I got to pray with the other day listened to me for perhaps a half hour and walked up to me and said, “I am that hypocrite that you have been preaching about.”  I got to counsel him and pray with him, praise Jesus!  What a blessing when conviction falls upon a sinner.  On another occasion at night while I was out at the clubs preaching late, I had a young man come up to me and get mad because he didn’t think it was right for me to be preaching outside the clubs late at night.  He said he was visiting from Minnesota and was a Lutheran.  He boasted of how religious his Mom and Dad are.  I told him that I love him and want to see him in heaven but that he needed to be born again!  He told me he was going to beat me up because I said that drunkards don’t get to go to heaven.  He did not believe that the Bible is the word of God and that it is alive, and active, and sharp!  He hated being told that God’s word is the final authority.  He wasn’t having a problem with me he was ultimately having a problem with God…If he had hit me I would have been knocked out for sure.  Praise the Lord I got to speak into his life.  Praise the Lord that he was falling under conviction while hearing the Good News proclaimed.  I think the thing that kept him from doing anything bad to me was my reminding him that my motive was pure, I love God and I love him.  I explained how God had saved me from drunkeness and that my sin nailed Jesus to the torturous cross on calvary.  I explained how God had taken my pursuit of sin and changed it to a pursuit of Him!  I was sharing who Jesus is and how he can make him born again!  Hopefully he will remember our conversation and somewhere down the road he can surrender his life to Jesus.  I really do care about the drunkards and I really believe that we need to meet people right where they are at.  So I go to where they are at in the streets.  I don’t know if anybody else is realizing it but there is a whole bunch of sin in the world.  We need to tell people about Jesus!

It seems like people like to get all excited when a prostitute gets saved from her tricks, or a drug dealer gets saved from their hits.  Do we believe that prostitutes and drug dealers can be delivered?  I do.  Do we believe a man can be saved from looking at porn?  I do.  Do we believe that a man can stop getting drunk?  I do. But there seems to be a real resentment in Christendom and the world when a preacher tells your everyday random sinner that there is hope in Jesus and that they can be saved from their sin.  We need to personalize Jesus in our lives folks.  Jesus is not just for poor people, or people living in the streets.  Jesus is not just for people that go to church, people that go to colleges, people that are married.  Jesus is for everybody.  I remember how hypocritical I was when I was a student.  I lied so bad about how I was living to my parents.  If I had died in my unregenerate state I would have gone right to hell.  Jesus can save a student so that when they go home over vacation they can openly be living at home the same way they were at school without being a double minded man.

How can the preacher be so judgmental to insinuate that there is sin in the world?  Is it intolerant for a preacher to tell people in the church to repent?  How can the preacher be so intolerant?  Most people say how good they are and then in the next breath remind me that we are all just sinners!   Can a preacher really get away with saying that Jesus is God?  Won’t that offend people?  That God is good and also just?  Jesus is merciful and restores marriages and father/son relationships and changes peoples lives.  Jesus can give us new passions and a new direction!  Christ Jesus can be the sinners joy and their hope if only they will surrender to Him through salvation, the blood atonement!  Jesus is beautiful and He can do miracles in your life for His fame, and honor, not ours.  He is a deliverer and redeemer and It seems that people like to think of other people getting freed from their bondage of sin but as soon as it becomes personal and they have to start looking at themselves then it is hitting too hard and close to home.  Perhaps they don’t want to be saved from their sin?  Or, If I preach against sin people often times think that I am saying that I am better than them.  I can assure everyone that I am no better than anybody else.  But I can also assure them that we as being born again in Christ are better off than everybody that has not been saved!  If I preach about sin often times I am looked at as being judgmental, hateful, and intolerant.  When I quote the Bible, then excuses now start to surface such as, “That is no longer relevant”, “That’s your interpretation”, “You are turning people away”,”you preach too much about hell”,”what about grace?”, “you are preaching sinless perfection”, “you are a legalist”, and on and on and on…  I believe that this world needs a real dose of hell fire preaching on repentance!  I mean look around and you tell me that this world isn’t going to hell in a hand basket…  If being nice to someone and inviting that person to church is so effective than why is there so much sin in the world and so much hatred for Jesus?

Some young people from a local church come out occasionally here in Boise and try to do some friendship evangelism and  are mostly intolerant to me preaching.  They tell me I am doing it all wrong.  It got so bad one weekend that I had to go talk to one of their pastors to try and get the pastor to tell the young people to give me a break!  I need them to stop snatching up the seeds that the Lord is giving increase to.  People are becoming broken and repentant and the young people are encouraging people in sin!  One night I had a nice sized crowd listening to me preach and one of these young people from this particular church was telling the crowd that everything I was saying was wrong. He kept saying that “Jesus is love, Jesus is love”.  I tried to explain that Jesus is love.  I also had to continually remind the crowd, many of them LDS, that Jesus is God and that we will all face Him on the day of judgment.  I also explained that God is just, not just our big Santa Clause in the sky.  Jesus was crucified for sinners because people hated His message, the disciples were all martyred for their faith in having seen Him resurrected and they told people about it, John had his head cut off because the King had been confronted in His sin, Paul was continually tortured for his faith including being imprisoned, stoned, five times had been scourged with a cat o nine tails… These disciples of Jesus preached repentance and faith in Christ alone!  The disciples told the world that God was offended at sin and was kind enough to give us a Saviour.  That the cure for disease called sin is Jesus!  They preached that Jesus is the only way to be forgiven.  They told mankind that Jesus is God, the only God, the only truth, the bread of life, the atoner for our soul, our redeemer, Saviour, King, counselor, shepherd, and that He is alive!  He came back from the grave and hundreds saw him.  Men hate being told the truth about Jesus because they love darkness rather than light.  I have run into this a lot where effectiveness is the cry of the christians we meet while out witnessing. We are not commanded to be effective we are commanded to GO!  One girl of the young girls from this church boasted of how effective she was to get a Wicken girl to come to her church. I said great, did she surrender to Jesus with a repentant heart and believe on His blood atonement for her soul?  She answered and said no.  Well I said, that is not very effective of you now is it? The point is that God gives increase to the Gospel.  Nothing compared to God’s glory is effective.  He saves souls, we don’t.  Even a little prayer can’t save someone, it is only blood that atones for souls and that blood was shed by Jesus.

A question I get a lot from people is, Can a “so and so” religious person go to heaven?  The answer is always YES, but they need to repent and put their trust in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation.  And then almost always I will hear, so then ALL “so and so’s” are going to hell!  And My response is, of course not.  If so and so’s repent and put their faith in Jesus then they get to go to heaven!  And then I will hear, so all religions are wrong except Christianity?  And my response is, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me!  This is when people often times become agitated.  It is normally the response to have people get upset because we are saying that Jesus is the ONLY way.  Now, our objective while sharing the Gospel is to share the Good News that the world has a Saviour and His name is Jesus.  Our goal is not to offend people.  It is not to hate people.  Our calling is to share the Good News but that can be very offensive.  Listen, Allah is NOT God.  Buda is not God.  Jesus is God!  It is offensive to people also when we share that Jesus said a place called hell awaits sinners.  They do not like it when we quote scripture about Hell.  I can’t make this stuff up.  Christians we meet many times try just about anything they can to say that Jesus just loved on people and He never ever talked about hell…  I can assure you those people just haven’t read their Bibles!

Think about Patti Smith (she does abortuary ministry in Orlando) who just did an update on her Facebook page.  She posted, “”This is Maria (photo shown on her site). We met her as she came to kill her baby yesterday morning. Like so many sexually immoral murderesses we meet, Maria is a professing ‘Christian’. Proof positive that which AW Pink said is true:  “If the Gospel were more faithfully preached, there would be fewer people professing to believe it.  I wonder if the wicked Israelites who offered their babies to Molech believed they too could be forgiven by simply going through the motions of religion at the temple afterward?””

Listen, sin does not bring glory to God.  No, we will never be sinless in this life but we are perfect in this life because of Christ’s blood that He shed.  But that does NOT GIVE US LICENSE TO SIN!  We are perfect in Christ.  We hate sin because we are saved by a great loving, merciful, kind, forgiving Saviour.  We forsake sin because we are saved!  I will say it again, we foraake sin because we are saved.  We get born again because the Spirit indwells us.  We trust His word, believe His word, live by His word and deny ourselves.  All that said, salvation is truly a gift from God.  Let me personalize this… Has God granted you the gift of repentance?  Has God taken you from darkness into light?  Has God received glory and the angels are rejoicing because of His merciful payment for your crimes against Him?  Are you born again?  Is Christ Jesus your all in all?

The question has never been whether or not Jesus loves us.  The question has always been do we love Jesus?  Do we love Him enough to trust in His finished work on the cross?  Do we love Him enough to live out our lives by faith and not by sight?  Do we love Him enough to trust His word?  Do we love Him enough to have him save us from our dirty, filthy, unjust, selfish, proud, ambitious, gossiping, drunken, lascivious, wretched lives?  I pray we will.  Friends, as we encounter opposition from people about the Good News of the cross let us remind them that Christ died for sinners!  Explain what Jesus has done for you.  Tell them how glad you are that you are no longer hell bound!  Explain how effective Jesus was in our life. Friends I don’t want to trivialize the Good News I want to tell others the Good News.  Let us share Good News.  Lets hand out a tract, sit down next to someone and tell them about Jesus, let’s live for the glory of God.

Ok, now its time for New Years Resolutions

1- Pray more

2- Read Bible more

3- Tell people about Jesus more

I should be in Las Vegas the 29th of Dec. thru Jan. 1st.  I went there two years ago and was overwhelmed at the desperate need to evangelize during New Years again and so this year is the again.  People from all over the world in droves come to Las Vegas for New Years and it is a wonderful opportunity to hand out Bibles, tracts, DVD’s, witness and preach.  Pray for myself and the five men I will be with.  We’ve all done outreach together before and work well together.  Pray for the Lord to give increase to the words that are shared.

Thank you for visiting our site.  Let’s press on for the glory of God and make him famous.

In His grip,

Shawn Holes and family

Video of Police encounter Santa Fe NM

The week before Christmas in Boise BODO Idaho

The new introduction to my site that Ken Fleck is working on for me…

Don Karns preaching on Pearl Street Mall Boulder Colorado

Shawn Holes and Don Karns at Utah Valley University

Thanksgiving 2011 in Vail Colorado

Josh Bales from Boise preaching at University of Oregon in Eugene

John Robinson's church where we stayed when we were in Portland.

Kevin Borden witnessing to a man that said he "tried" Jesus.

Lorena Adams joined us both at U of O and OSU. Her son heard us preach a couple years ago and was determined to join up with us this year and be a laborer for Jesus. OSU this year was one of the most hypocritical campuses we preached at during any of our travels. May God grant these students repentance and mercy.

Shawn Holes preaching at OSU in Corvallis

Don Karns ASU

Ron Allen at Southern Oregon University. Ron and I know each other from our days back in upstate NY. Ron is now pastoring a church in Oregon and took the time to join us as we shared Christ with a lost and dying world.

Marty Gillispie in Las Vegas openly lifting up his voice for his Saviour

Shawn Holes at University Nevada Las Vegas

Don Karns Las Vegas. While Don was preaching this message a man came up to me as I was handing out tracts and punched me in the chin, ouch!. He came back five minutes lated and punched me again, in the chin, same spot. I didn't have time to turn the other cheek I guess.

Boulder Colorado Black Friday 2011- Don preached here and I preached in Longmont. Its nice to have a captive crowd that is in pursuit of the world. Lots of spring boards to preach from and plenty of souls that need Jesus.

Craig Bauman preaching in Boulder Colorado while Don Karns hands out Gospel tracts

My old buddy Kent Rychel and I got to catch up while I was in Fort Collins

Shawn Holes preaching at Utah Valley University. This is one of the most respectful groups of students I have ever encountered. One teacher even thanked us for coming and asked when we would be coming back so that he could help promote our tour. btw, the teacher did not agree at all with the message of salvation...

Sin Kills! Let's look at the big picture folks. Please don't be so enamored with the follies of sin that you get TRAPPED. Sin may look pretty good but it can really catch you by surprise if you are not careful.

I am preparing to leave on a 3+ week long college campus tour and I am excited to be able to preach to the future Mommies and Daddies, law makers, plumbers, and teachers, etc of our nation.  Universities for the most part are not teaching about Jesus if you haven’t noticed.  And sadly many Christians on the campuses are not living out and sharing the full counsel of God.  But our prayer is that many will repent and many will come to a saving relationship with Jesus as the Lord of their lives.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  2 Chronicles 7:14

Please, and I really ask with a real desperation, please ask Jesus for people to hear the Gospel, forsake their sins, and make Jesus the Lord of their lives. May the Holy Spirit draw sinners to Christ.  Pray for us as ambassadors of the Lord most high to be Spirit filled and Christ like.  Pray for Godly sorrow in these students hearts.  And please pray for God to be honored.

Here is a list of Campuses I am in prayer about visiting:

University of Idaho

Washington State University

Seattle State University

Portland State University

University of Oregon

Oregon State University

Southern Oregon University

University of Nevada Reno

University of Nevada Las Vegas

Northern Arizona University

Arizona State University

University of Arizona

New Mexico State University

University of New Mexico

others TBD

Lord willing I will meet up with other Christians to hand out tracts, witness, sing, and preach.  The harvest truly is plentiful and laborers are few.  Thankfully I hope to join up with other people…and I know that the highways and hedges will be full of lost souls to witness to.

Recently I received an update from evangelist Mark Cahill and I loved the quote that it had at the bottom of the update and found it to be so encouraging:

“…I had a guy walk up to me in an airport and say, “You were just walking around looking for someone to witness to weren’t you?” I didn’t know it was that obvious!! “

Brethren, when you are driven to win souls and the world around you has grown dim, I believe this is the mode that the soul winner is in. May we all be in a prayerful state that keeps us reaching out to the lost with the Good News, and in love sharing the cure for our sinful disease.  May this observation and encouragement that Mr. Cahill received be an encouragement to us all.

If you have not seen this award winning movie go watch it:

A week and a half ago I went into the Doctor for a random check up I ended up failing the stress test that he gave me with flying colors. The same day of failing the test I had an emergency visit to the cardiologist and had to have an angiogram done.  The cardiologist put a stent into my artery. When arteries are clogged up to the point of blood not being able to flow thru them then heart attacks occur.  Evidently I have a couple more arteries that aren’t doing so great but medication will hopefully open those up and get me heading down the road of good health soon enough, if the Lord wills.  It all happened really fast and by God’s grace I am here today to give all glory to my Saviour for giving me more time here on this beautiful planet, being able to spend more time with my family, and more time to share Good News.  Life is precious and I am thankful for this bit of an extension on mine.

btw, If you can help out financially for me to venture out onto these campuses for the next few weeks it is greatly appreciated and needed.  Any amount helps.  I understand many people have other responsibilities that will not allow them to travel or do what I do full time.  So you helping our ministry financially is a ministry in and of itself.  For those of you that are already helping, thank you soooooooo very much.  If you can’t help out financially please keep helping by praying.  We just want to serve our King with this type of ministry and you coming along side us is absolutely encouraging!  You can email us to find out our personal address  or contribute through Paypal or the contribute link at the top of the page.  Again, thank you all for your support, may the Lord be blessed.

Oh, one more thing… visit us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/shawnthebaptist

In His grip,

Shawn Holes and family

I’ve been back for a little over a week now.  9 weeks was a long time to be away from home especially since I had originally planned to be gone only three weeks.  I had the pleasure of preaching at 21 campuses, traveled nearly 11,000 miles, and shared Christ in 15 states.  Thousands of Gospel tracts were handed out and by all means it was a real whirl wind for sure.  I slept on many floors, in campgrounds, in the open air, and in hotels.  I ate like a king and the hospitality of the saints around the country was beautiful.  My travels were paid for by the grace of God through all of you, and so were the needed repairs to my vehicle.  More and more I realize how unworthy I am to be a Christian.  I cannot possibly understand how such Good News has been entrusted in us as believers to share with a lost and dying world.  We are not worthy to have a Saviour and me of all people to be a light and salt in a dark world is hard for me to understand.  I know that there are many people that would do what I do if they could.  Instead they support me financially and in prayer.  I know there are tons of people that can do what I do better. Instead God has them at home in a full time job and raising families.  I am thankful for the grace of God in my life and additionally thankful for all that he has entrusted me with.  I thank God for all of you!

I need Jesus.  Lots of people need Jesus plain and simple, just look around.  You don’t have to look very far.  Look at the world and even in our churches, WE NEED JESUS.  People don’t need to hear our opinions, plan our next outreach, pamper our youth, have more comfortable chairs in the sanctuary, bring on more debt for the church by building an addition, changing the pew Bibles to something more contemporary,  be cooler or have the right shoes, glasses and jeans.  People  don’t need to know what I think.  The world needs to hear what God’s word says, the world needs Jesus!  We need to wake up people and be alive in Jesus.  We need to stop slumbering in mediocrity and lukewarmness is what we need to do.  No more time for spiritual napping. No more time for being saints that are sluggards of sin.  Men need to take a strong stand for Jesus in their work place, in their home, in the streets, in their communities, and in their personal lives.  What we need is to be consumed with Jesus.

Forsaking of sin is much neglected in the church and certainly being born again is almost laughed at if you preach it and profess it.  The man centered, draw people to the cross with the culture, define words any way we want to suit our theology, be a cool Christian the community will want to connect with, ask Jesus in to your heart, say a little prayer and now you are a Christian, easy believism message is the norm.  Brothers and sisters in Christ, Christianity is NOT morality.  We are not Christians so that we can have our best life now.  Morality never saved anybody…  We are Christians so that God can demonstrate his love and kindness by having saved sinners from our deserved wrath and torment in Hell.  The world should hear our testimony of what we have been saved from and how undeserving we are.  God is merciful.  God is loving.  God is kind.  And God is in control.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ so that you might be saved (from sin, from, hell, from wrath, and from yourself).  Stop believing in the best selling authors of your Christian book stores.  Stop putting your trust in antidotes that Pastors may be using to tickle your ears just so that you can be  compromised in your selfishness and your pride.  Friends, lets try denying ourselves and dying to ourselves, and clinging to the cross, and trusting in the finished work of the blood that Jesus shed!

Are we ready to meet Jesus on our knees each morning?  Are you known for your prayer life?  Better yet, are we prepared to meet Jesus on Judgment day and would you know Him from having met him first thing each morning on your knees?  Are we ready to have Jesus be our King?   Can we honestly say we believe the word of God to be alive and active and cutting and sharp and true and without error!

If we ran into Jesus on the street, the Americanized Christian probably wouldn’t even recognize Him because our watered down man centered Jesus doesn’t look anything like the Jesus of the Bible.  God’s word is our blueprint for following Him so we better start quoting it, believing in it, and knowing Him through it.  Not from a cultural perspective but from a Biblical perspective.  Put on your God goggles and start looking at yourself and the world around you.  Try it!  When you look at the ways of the world, the way that the Bible talks about it, chances are you may start to weep.  You may weep because it could hit you how much we’ve dropped the ball on authentic Biblical Christianity.

Friends, we are not surrounded by unchurched people in the world, we are surrounded by sinners in the hands of the living God.  As believers we don’t need to reach out to the unchurched, we need to reach out to the lost sinners of the world.  People don’t need church!  People need to be born again by the grace of God through the blood of Jesus. Church is a place for Christians to worship God.  Church is a place for repentant believers.  Church is a place to get your next battle cry from your pastor.  Church is a house of prayer place to learn the richness of Christ and His glory.  It is a place for doctrine and truth.  It is a place of fellowship for sheep, not goats.  It is a place to be shepherded and guarded.  It is a place of peace, comfort, joy, hope, and equipping.

Jesus deserves glory and His name alone needs to be lifted up and praised.  We have been created for one single purpose… are you ready… that single purpose is to bring glory to Jesus!  Am I the standard, NO!  Have I yet obtained?  NO!  Do I deserve the wrath of God, YES!  Am I better than anybody else? NO!  What I am though is a man that has been saved by God’s grace.  I know one thing for certain and that is that We will all die someday and stand before the just judge of the Universe and His name is Jesus.  I know that God has saved me from my sin and by the blood that He shed on the cross.  Jesus is God and I know that because the Bible tells me so.  If you can’t handle that then take it up with God.  If you are adding works to the finished work of what God did by dying on the cross then you need to understand what the blood is all about. Are you saved by the blood and are you ready to meet God?

I have recently preached with some of the most God fearing men I have ever known.  Many times when I travel alone to preach I am not able to be encouraged and blessed with other believers as I have been over the last several weeks.  What a blessing it is to hear these men pour their hearts out to sinners by the power of the Holy spirit in their lives.  They know and trust what the Bible says.  They are good listeners and good preachers, and good pray-ers.  They are surrendered to what God has for them and are willingly obedient to the call he has in their lives.  Thank you Lord for allowing me to see how you can work in a man’s life.

At Wyoming Christian Fellowship I shared a message on evangelism.  Up until this point when asked to share in churches I generally preach on things like prayer, Godly marriage, holiness, and fearing God.  However I really wanted to talk about sharing our faith everywhere we go.  It doesn’t matter where you are in life you can always share your faith in Jesus.  I hope that it was an encouragement to the saints of such a sweet fellowship in Cheyenne.  This body of believers has always taken my family and me in so gladly when we come through the area and I am always blessed by the fellowship.

Now that I am back and preparing in a few days to head out to Washington, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, and Oregon. In the middle of that little journey there are a couple of meetings to be attended here in Boise and then share News to as many people as possible.At some point there will be other men that will come alongside me so I am thankful for that as a blessing.

If you haven’t realized it yet Christians that share what the Bible says are a lightening rod for criticism.  If you are witnessing (sharing the Gospel 1-2-1, or tracting, or preaching publicly) you will receive lots, and lots of opposition.  Many claims will be made which are unfounded and untrue. People will actually gossip about you as a Christian and you will be compared to strange organizations and churches, and you will be told you are turning people away from Jesus, you will be told you are hateful, you will be misquoted, You will be told that you definitely are not being effective, you will be mocked and ridiculed, pushed, shoved, assaulted, spit on, have things thrown at you, and all of this because you are reaching out to the lost with what the Bible says (and much of the time it is Christians).  Now, if you aren’t sharing what the Bible says then you will not have opposition, people will love you, and you are not going to be spit on…  It will be clear sailing.

In boulder while preaching a woman took her clothes off and got bare naked except for her panties.  Yes, very true.  I was with a couple of families and many children sadly saw this horrifying incident.  You would think that it would be safe in broad daylight to bring families to a public environment but of course it is not safe anymore.  The woman was dancing and parading around in front of us as we preached, so we moved on to a different location.  Oh, and the police were there to see the whole thing.  In Boulder women can walk around nude from the waist up so the police had nothing to enforce.

We return to many of the places we have been before. One of those places is a bar just off the Penn State campus in State College. We lawfully amplify our voices there and praise God many people that are lined up to go into this particular bar hear the truth about repentance and faith in Christ.  The bar manager knows us so well that he comes out and asks us if there is anything he can get for us!  If people get a bit hostile or angry he tells them to settle down or he will not let them into the bar… 700 person capacity in this basement bar at $20.00 per person, you do the math, this bar is making money and that does not include all the money they make on drinks.  Many of the young people say “oh we are all just sinners”, or that they will go to church on Sunday or go see their priest so that everything will be “OK”.  It is not my favorite place to preach but truthfully it is a much needed place for sharing the Gospel.

Here are a few emails I recently received.  I have taken the names out to protect peoples’ anonymity.

Message Body:

“…Do college students come to your house and yell at you for being a Christian? I highly doubt it. Stay out of Shippensburg, there wasn’t a single person that wanted you here. I understand it’s your job to spread the gospel, but don’t waste your breath on people that CLEARLY disagree with you.”

My thoughts:

Shippensburg is a really shame-full campus.  One of the Christian groups on campus last year had to be reprimanded for its opposition to the Gospel from its NGB. This year the minister who opposed us last year came by only to rub elbows and hob nob with some of the students while we shared the Good News.  I have preached on this particular campus for four years and this year was by far the best in terms of the type of meeting we had.  Many students came up to us at the end of the day and thanked us for coming again to this seemingly hopeless abyss of sin.  One 7th day adventist had lots of questions as we were leaving and took much literature.  Another student said that he is graduation this year and has heard us preach for four years now.  He said that he truly understands the message of repentance and faith in Jesus!  Many others were encouraged and so all glory to God for continuing to allow us to preach at this cesspool of sin.  So the person that wrote me from Shippensburg obviously hasn’t had their eyes opened by God to hear the truth.  Here is what Gods word says though so I should not be discouraged… “And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Isaiah 6:9”

Message Body:

Hey Shawn,  As always, it was great seeing you at Shippensburg University.  Especially on a rainy day like today was.  Although I may disagree with you regarding many parts of your message, I strongly respect your reasons for giving it.  I am genuinely sorry for those who wish to refuse you entrance into the public forum.  They may try to claim that what you had to say was hate speech, but it was far from it.  While what you say may be inflammatory to many, your intent, emotions, and tone while delivering it are pure.  As such, those who wish to deny you access to such a forum are blatantly trying to deny your freedom of speech.  That is a ‘crime’ in and of itself, as we live in this great country.  To be honest, I have rarely met an individual delivering ‘the word of god’ publicly (a ‘street preacher’ as some others might say) that I end up respecting as an individual.  You are one such person.  I am actually sorry that I will not be able to see you when you next come around, as I will be graduating this December (as we discussed earlier).  As always, god be with you.  Be safe and well, and my best to you.  If I do not see you during my later walks of life, god bless as always.

My thoughts:

Wow!

Message Body:

Hello Luke 10:2 Ministries,

My name is ***********. I am a senior at Penn State University Park. I am a born-again Christian. I saw you today speaking with the homosexual activist group in front of the HUB on campus. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your effort and your struggle. Through all the dissension among the students, whether you know it or not, you are reaching lives. You certainly touched mine today. It is good to see someone stand up for God’s Word. You are doing God’s work, work that will have an eternal impact. In a place where we are taught to accept all as truth, it is a real blessing to see someone fighting so boldly for God’s truth. I will be praying for your ministry.

Another letter I received…

Message Body:

I’m a Christian myself, but if you met me, I am sure you would disagree, but I know in my heart that Christ Jesus dies for my sins through his mercy and grace, and I know that I am a daughter of God.  I’m not going to get into my personal life, because I really don’t want to debate it, but I can assure you that I know Jesus’ truth.  …has it ever occurred to you, that we each have Christian fellowships on our campuses? We have people who give their LIVES for this,  and for a career, they live life with students and preach the Truth of The Lord to them daily. These are people who imitate Jesus and his ways of evangelism: building friendships, building trustworthy relationships, going into the homes of students, inviting students into their homes, and seriously spending all of their time LOVING and CARING for students. …Personally, I will tell you how you are perceived on my campus. I was at an Allies meeting today, which I my girlfriend and I are secretary for. (Allies, if you are unaware, is a LGBTQ organization and a Gay/Straight Alliance on campus.) …We see you as a threat to our campus; one that is going to attack our values and harass our students.

My thoughts:

If the effectiveness of the Christian groups on campus invite people to continue in a lifestyle of sin then it would certainly be a different Jesus that is being preached from what the Bible declares.  Additionally, many LGBTQ tell me they were born that way.  Jesus said that you must be born again!  Enough said.

Message Body:

Hi Shawn, …you and Don Karns were at my college campus in Gunnison CO.  I got a call from a friend …that there  were some crazy guys on campus.  I came to check it out and see if their would be any opportunities for me to share the gospel.  After listening to your friend Don, have a very robust discussion with several students I had the opportunity to share with some people, something I am truly grateful for.  After witnessing your preaching I realized that the only error I could find was a methodological error.  ….Thank you for your ministry.

My thoughts:

We should all try witnessing while the preacher is preaching.  Christian, instead of coming up against the preacher consider sharing  the Gospel.  Oh, and that means not picking sides and saying to the person that you are witnessing to how much you hate the public proclaimation of Good News.  Instead just use the opportunity to witness.

Message Body:

You are to be commended on your willingness to do as commanded and preach the word, in season out of season… I work at Fort Lewis College and my heart went out to you while these poor lost souls who you are trying to rescue only argue with you… we can only pray that at least one of the many who were there intently listening will be touched!  May you be richly blessed!

Message Body:

Thank you for coming to Colorado Mesa university to plant the word of God in so many peoples minds. You are brave and more people appreciate you than what was demonstrated. Never quit doing what you do. Thank you so much.

Message Body:

For some reason you and the conversation we had stands out in my mind. I actually went to church last sunday sept 2nd. That’s a start I guess…

My thoughts: I remember meeting this man outside of a strip club that we had preached at in Philly.  I spoke to a few men that night but one thing that stuck out while witnessing to him was his brokeness.  He was humbled when we shared the Good News with him.  I remember explaining to him that the issue is his heart.  I went to scripture and showed him how the Bible says his good deeds are even filthy.  The cure to his sin disease was needed immediately and that cure is Jesus.  There would be a cost and it would mean his life.  He would need to turn from all known sin and serve Jesus as King and as Lord.

If you haven’t noticed, I am trying to post more regularly on Facebook.  While traveling I like to post photos and occasionally a video.  Many of you are praying for us and so this may give you more to talk to God about on my behalf.  My Facebook address is:https://www.facebook.com/shawnthebaptist If you like what you read then click “like”.

Thank you for continuing to support us.  We cannot continue on without the Lord using you to come along side us.  We are blessed to serve our King by sharing the Gospel on campuses and and throughout this world in which we live.

Let’s go serve our King and make Him famous.

Shawn Holes and family

Don Karns preaching on Church Street in Burlington VT

Michael Marcavage preaching to the club scene in Burlington VT

We ended up at the University of Vermont on a day off. The students gathered though and the Gospel was preached.

Iron Mike Stockwell proclaims Sin Awareness Day at the University of Vermont. Sadly our sign was later stolen by on another campus. Don witnesses to a student that asked many questions about eternity.

UNH Mike Stockwell preching... One student yelled for three hours "bigots go home"!

Don Karns, Chris Sippley, and Iron Mike Stockwell get rested up from a long day of preaching in Maine. Some nice songs were sung and great fellowship was had. We had made a reservation at this campground and when we had arrived the owner gave us a cabin instead of a campsite for the same price. We have connections...

Chris Sippley and Michael Marcavage taking refuge from a downpour in Maine

Students of LGBTQ often come out to oppose the preaching. I guess they must think that we are there to single them out.

A brother in Christ David Mohr contacted us and joined us in State College to share the Gospel.

Ervin Martin preaching in Downtown State College PA to the club crowd

David Reiff and Family in Pennsylvania

Don Karns preaching at the Penn State football game. We were able to use the half mile haler so thousands and thousands of people heard the gospel preached!

Joe Necerato takes care of us while we preach in PA

Robert Parker preaches in Philly to the University of PA early evening crowd.

Michael Marcavage, Iron Mike Stockwell, and Don Karns take a moment to have a candid photo taken of them.

Greg Jacobs preaching to a hostile crowd in East Stroudsburg University

Keith Darrell preaching at Shippensburgh. Unfortunately the LGBQT ended up being very unaccepting and intolerant of our message and used umbrellas to block us from the students hearing us.

Baptisms at the Rehoboth Christian Fellowship

Just a random cute boy

Iron Mike Stockwell schooling the students at East Stroudsburg

Ken Fleck preaching his guts out at U Penn

Don Karns Penn State.

This dear young believer came up to me and encouraged me in the word and fellowship at Trenton

Bloomsburg University students that stuck around to have the Gospel shared.

Keith Darrell witnessing at Bucknell University

Pastor John Chisham (better known as "Chiz")

1919 is some of the finest Root Beer available and if you haven't had it it is worth driving to southern Minnesota to get a keg. I believe Kegs are the only way to purchase it. It is just yummy!

I really like South Dakota a lot. Go there and find out why... its beautiful.

Atheists are some of the nicest people you will meet on campuses. Here are the St. Cloud State University variety.

The Craig Bauman family from Wyoming. They all went to Boulder to witness and sing with us.

One of the many Colorado views we experienced to prove God as the creator

Colorful Colorado

These two men stuck around for prayer after the meeting in Gunnison, Colorado

Shawn Holes at university of utah

Brother Nate from a local ministry takes the evangelism ball and runs with it when we come to preach at Fort Colins University in Durango, Colorado.

Don sharing after a huge meeting at the University of Utah

Don preaching at a not so well received message about Jesus at Boise State University.