Betty: First, let me say thank you for sharing your story with us.

Marg: Yes, thank you. I’m still amazed that you took your children to such a hostile country.

D.G.H: Well, when God says, “Go,” you don’t say, “No.”

Marg: But weren’t you afraid? You talk about overcoming fear—

Betty: Every church you go to, you’re asking for prayer—

Marg: —but you don’t seem afraid of the people, or what will happen to you. Why is that?

Betty: You’re not afraid of people at all, are you? The first few chapters, you’re here, out preaching on the streets. Why start your story with street preaching?

STREET PREACHING

D.G.H: One of my main reasons for telling the story is that we need a book that doesn’t teach Christians to fear Muslims!

I mean, we have one—the Bible—but we are wound so tight by media and the news that our hearts have become afraid and we’re not looking at Jesus.

Street preaching puts Jesus front and center again. Jesus conquered the grave! And “whosoever believes in Him” means just that! Anyone can come to Christ and receive eternal life! Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, atheists—“whosoever!”

So then, who’s our true enemy? It can’t be the people themselves.

Marg: Spiritual darkness.

D.G.H: Right.

I also wanted to show the compelling love of Christ—even for total strangers—as our primary motivator. It’s one thing to say, “The love I feel for people is from God.” That sounds nice. It’s another thing to show that love under pressure, being tested.

What’s your take-away on street preaching?

Betty: Street preaching terrifies me. I don’t think I could be called to it. The first time I read your story, I had to try to get around it.

I suppose it has pros and cons, but you don’t know if street preachers are credible. They’re up there saying, “Here’s my experience and you need to come to Jesus because I say you need to!” But who are they really? We don’t know.

Marg: I like what you did. You just read scripture.

Betty: That was the turning point for me. When you stood there and read the whole Book of Mark, I thought, “Why would we not want to proclaim the Word of God?” It’s like saying to the people, “This is God’s Word. Do what you want with God’s Word.” And then it’s up to God to do what He does with His Word. It’s not a personal argument.

D.G.H: I look at it like this: It’s New York City. There’s a performance-art culture. To step into street preaching in New York City is to be yet another street performer.

And it’s not all argument. You put a person on the mic to draw people. Then everyone else on the team scatters into the crowd to do one-on-ones or to pray with people. Sometimes “street preaching” is just offering to pray until someone says, “Yes, please!”

If you’re not on the mic, you talk to the people at the far back and find out: What’s their story? And you listen.

The first summer I went on one of these trips, I was under-prepared. One guy walked away disappointed because I couldn’t show him all the times Jesus had fulfilled prophecies. So I spent the next year reading through the Bible, praying, “God, show me verses.” And I made scripture packets I could give away.

Marg: I could do that. I could hand someone verses I’d copied out of the Bible.

Betty: Me too. And I think we’d both be good listeners—

Marg: And we could pray with people.

Betty: Yes. I think I’d like that.

STARTING MISSIONARY LIFE

Marg: I read your book and I felt like I had a much better understanding of what people go through in order to go to another country.

Betty: You had a little bit of prep ahead of time going with this agency, but it seemed focused on fundraising and not focused on . . .

“What’s it going to be like when I’m there?”
“What kind of spiritual battles am I going to have?”
“Am I going to be ready? Am I going to have a support group there?”

You were getting people to pray, which is a support group, I guess . . .

D.G.H: Prayer is key.

My original opener featured a family that came to our church and fielded questions for nearly an hour. Their country was one of those “sensitive countries,” so people were super interested in all kinds of stuff.

By the end, I couldn’t take it. I had to ask, “How can we pray for you?”

Poof! All the facade dropped. The wife’s face melted in tears because they hadn’t yet been asked that question—not anywhere they’d gone.

Here was this family facing huge stressors just in what everyday life was going to be—the wife was pregnant, their little kids were going to end up in a school where they wouldn’t speak the language—and they were bearing that burden silently and alone.

Yes, missionaries need funds. But without prayer, without feeling like someone sees them and is supporting them as a person . . .

Betty: It makes me think, “Do we have any idea what it’s like? Missionaries come and they do a blurb, but do they have the day-to-day support they’re going to need when they’re there?” I’m not sure.

Marg: I was angry when I read your story. I kept thinking, “This isn’t right. This isn’t fair!”

Betty: Honestly, I was humiliated as a church. I felt like we let people down.

D.G.H: I understand. It’s easy to stay detached as an audience member. I’ve been there myself.

Betty: Not anymore. I don’t think I will ever look the same way at someone who comes to our church fundraising to go to the field. I will see them as families that have struggles living this life.

Read “Living It“