Leo shares the Gospel with four young men from south east Washington, DC.

Gospel Academy students participate in the Fairfax job fair outreach.

It only took an hour and a half for the Gospel Academy students to hand out 200 fliers and 400 tracts.

For Laura, this was her first time handing out any sort of religious literature to strangers. On the other hand, this was Dan’s third time handing out Bibles and/or tracts with Gospel Xpress, so he found it less stressful. Kevin has also done evangelism outreach in the past, so he was quite comfortable.

At one point during our outreach, the organizer told us we were not allowed to distribute literature at the job fair (which seemed suspect to me due to the nature of job fairs and the fact that everyone else was distributing job-related literature), and he asked us to leave. However, after discovering we were from McLean Bible Church and were promoting the church’s well-known Career Network ministry, he allowed us to finish.

The point of this outreach event was to get the students comfortable with handing out literature that was highly targeted to the recipients (i.e., giving unemployment-related information/literature to people looking for jobs). This will act as a stepping stone to the next series of outreach events.

Check out the video highlights from the outreach (you can also subscribe to our Witness Videos podcast)…

Megan leads the class.

We will be going through the Way of the Master basic training course, featuring video lessons hosted by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. The class is facilitated by Michael Tolosa and Megan Beckwith, and study guides were provided free of charge to each student by Gospel Xpress.

The class meets every other Sunday for eight sessions at McLean Bible Church. On the off-weeks, Michael and Megan organize evangelism outreaches in the DC metro area. Stay tuned for more info on our class and outreach events!

In the meantime, check out the video promo we created to promote the class…

Leo shares the Gospel with Jay, a former Catholic from New York City. Notice how Jay mentions that there are some (mortal) sins that you cannot recover from. But an accurate knowledge of the Gospel acknowledges that Jesus has paid for ALL of your sins (past, present, and future), if you repent — and there is nothing we can do ourselves to “balance the scales” or earn forgiveness.

On Saturday, February 20, we showed up to a homeless outreach event in Herndon, Virginia, where we handed out free Spanish Bibles to the predominantly Hispanic crowd gathered to receive free warm meals and clothing from Cota and other members of the Soul Purpose ministry at McLean Bible Church.

The outreach started at 4:30 PM, when Cota went across the street to the 7-Eleven in Herndon, where homeless/poverty-stricken illegal Hispanics notoriously gather for day labor opportunities. Once promised with free meals and clothing, they gathered in a parking lot across the street, where Cota and her ministry partners dished out hot meals.

Following the meal, Cota and another woman presented the Gospel message in Spanish to the listening crowd. They acted out impromptu skits and also led the group in a cappella praise songs.

After the message was given, the attendees were given free clothing provided by MBC’s Clothing Shop ministry. During this time, we handed out the Bibles I had brought.

Michael, Megan, and Leo hit the streets of Washington, DC in downtown Chinatown to hand out tracts and share the Gospel with Washington Capitals hockey fans on Saturday, March 6, 2010.

On Thursday, February 4, we were able to hand out fifty Spanish Bibles during a Hispanic outreach in McLean, Virginia. The outreach was held at McLean Bible Church and was sponsored by the church’s Clothing Shop ministry. Luis Villalobos, the Hispanic outreach director for Frontline (the young adult community at MBC), shared the Gospel to the predominantly Latino audience prior to their visit into the Clothing Shop, where they helped themselves to bag-fulls of free clothing.

The Clothing Shop provides free clothing to people attending MBC, as well as the local community — there are no economic qualifications. They provide gently used men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and shoes, which have been donated by the MBC community.

The Hispanic clothing ministry is held every Thursday night at 6:30 PM. We would like to attend regularly to pass out Bibles, but we will need funds to purchase additional Spanish Bibles. Find out how you can help!

Megan Beckwith and Michael Tolosa handing out Christmas-themed Bibles outside the White House in Washington, DC.

“Did you get one of these?” I would say to get their attention, “They’re free.” When the passersby inquired what I was handing out, I would tell them, “It’s the original Christmas story.” Most would gladly accept the free gift, while the others would politely refuse.

We encountered many fellow Christians, who encouraged us and thanked us for doing the Bible handouts. One woman said she was completely surprised and inspired to see someone doing what we were doing in DC. A pastor even stopped to bless us. The park police officer patrolling the National Christmas Tree area told us, reluctantly, that we had to move further down the sidewalk away from the Christmas Tree, because there was no soliciting allowed. “I’m a fellow believer,” she said, “And I think what you’re doing is great.”

Inside each Bible, we included a Christmas-themed Gospel tract, so that everyone who received a Bible also received a clear Gospel message. That is, after all, the point of all of this… To reach the Washington, DC area with the message of Jesus Christ.

In addition to the handouts in DC, I was also able to hand out 100 Bibles at Tysons Corner Mall in the affluent area of Tysons Corner, Virginia. In total, we handed out nearly 300 Christmas Bibles last week. We have more Bibles to hand out, including 100 Spanish-language Bibles we’d like to distribute to low-income areas of Langley Park, Maryland in the coming weeks.

Please pray that our commitment to hit the streets with the Gospel message would remain strong, that we would find more people to help us, and that God would bless our efforts and use these Bibles to reveal Himself to the people of Washington, DC.

Michael Tolosa

Michael, who has over a decade of online marketing and filmmaking experience, will use his skills and knowledge to impact the secular Washington, DC area (as well as the Internet) with the message of Jesus Christ.

Already, the U.S. division of Gospel Xpress has launched two video podcast shows (Testimony Videos, Witness Videos) and engaged in mass Bible and tract handouts on the streets of DC, Maryland, and Virginia. In 2010, Michael will begin training other young adults to do street evangelism.

We’re excited to see how God is using Gospel Xpress to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the United States capital and all over the world!

Sterling Brown grew up in South-East Washington, DC. As a former drug dealer, his life was filled with conflict. One day, through extreme crisis, God delivered him from that lifestyle. Here is his story…