Here's Why Open Air Evangelism Is Still Legit in 2021
You’ve seen them on State St. in Downtown Chicago, or on your way to the football stadium, or outside your local abortion mill. Sometimes they hold signs, oftentimes they use voice amplification. Depending on your perspective, they’re either embarrassing (and possibly very convicting) zealots or heroes of the faith. Even Christians who agree with their message are often less-than-enthusiastic about their means for delivering it. I’m talking, of course, about street preachers (or "open air preachers” as they are sometimes known). And today Joel Settecase gets to sit down with a real-life street preacher—and a friend and good brother in Christ—to get some questions answered about this controversial, yet exciting practice that seems to be as old as the Bible itself.
Speaking of the Bible, there are clearly numerous examples of open air preachers, including many of the prophets, the apostles, and even the Lord Jesus Himself. And yet, while street preaching is a method with biblical precedent (not to mention its use by some of the foremost revival leaders in church history), most evangelism training today doesn’t even mention it, let alone train believers to do it, instead focusing on relationship-based evangelism. The implied message seems to be that, while open air Gospel proclamation worked in the past, times have now changed, and new methods are needed. Out with the old, and in with the new.
However, with such an impressive pedigree as street preaching has, is it really ready to be dustbinned in favor of other methods? On the other hand, should open air preaching perhaps be the primary way the church evangelizes today? And who’s to say?
To help us sort through these vital questions and many more, in this episode Joel Settecase sits down with pastor, ministry leader and open-air preacher Zoe White.
Zoe White has a passion for knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and making Him known. Zoe, a former Roman Catholic, was justified by faith and not by works at the age of 14 at a Presbyterian youth retreat in Florida. Now, Zoe is an open-air preaching evangelist, disciple-maker, conference organizer, and church planter. Zoe is dedicated to boldly proclaiming the one, pure Gospel of grace clearly to as many people as possible before Christ returns or calls him home.
Zoe is the founder of Declaring Truth Ministries, an open-air evangelism ministry based in Southeast Louisiana which encourages and equips believers to declare the Gospel faithfully. Since 2017, Declaring Truth Ministries has been declaring "the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation" through open-air proclamation, literature distribution, and "everywhere evangelism" so that God’s elect would hear and believe in Jesus Christ. Zoe regularly leads outreach teams to preach Christ crucified at busy street intersections, major sporting events, universities, street festivals, bar districts, abortion mills, and everywhere else the Spirit leads.
Zoe is a full-time vocational evangelist declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ boldly to all peoples and equipping believers to do the same. DTM hosts Declaring Truth @ Mardi Gras, an annual 4-day Biblical evangelism conference & mission trip to edify believers in sound doctrine and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to thousands of Mardi Gras revelers in the French Quarter. DTM’s Free Book Resource allows anyone in the United States to request one free sound Christian book or Bible per person, per month. Zoe is the creator of Topical Audio Bible, a series of videos which feature a dramatic narration of God’s Word arranged topically, and set to music with Scriptures on screen for your encouragement.
Zoe’s love for Charles Spurgeon inspired him to launch Spurgeon Gear in 2018, a clothing brand honoring the legacy of the Prince of Preachers over at SpurgeonGear.com.
Zoe is the planting elder of Kerusso Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, LA. Kerusso Baptist Church welcomes the opportunity to partner with Particular Baptist churches around the world to plant new churches that make disciples of all nations through Biblical evangelism and the proclaiming of sound doctrine.
Zoe and his wife Chelsea currently reside just outside of Baton Rouge with their 6 children in a tiny home on wheels, a 1977 Greyhound bus.
Specifically, you’ll find out:
📣Zoe’s background and how he got into open air evangelism.
📣Joel’s recent experience partnering with Zoe and Declaring Truth Ministries on an outreach event and conference at Mardi Gras.
📣What Zoe sees as the attributes of truly “biblical evangelism.” And does he preach fire and brimstone?
📣What separates different kinds of open-air preachers from one another—and why Zoe never uses gimmicks in his street evangelism.
📣Why Zoe believes in open air preaching as a legitimate and valuable means of evangelism today.
📣Is street preaching for all Christians? What kind of people are best suited for open-air preaching.
📣How you (yes, you) can take the next steps toward pursuing this bold method of Gospel proclamation.
Who is Zoe White?
Zoe is the planting elder of Kerusso Baptist Church and the founder of Declaring Truth Ministries:
Declaring Truth Ministries glorifies God by declaring "the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation" (Eph. 1:13) through open-air preaching, literature distribution, and "everywhere evangelism" so that all peoples would hear and believe in Jesus Christ. In partnership with local churches, we focus on spiritually strategic locations where large numbers of souls are gathered, or where there is significant evil or brokenness. We preach Christ crucified (1 Cor. 2:2) at major sporting events, universities, street festivals, bar districts, abortion mills, and wherever else the Spirit leads us. Utilizing our experience regularly preaching in the world famous French Quarter of New Orleans, DTM hosts Declaring Truth @ Mardi Gras, an annual 4-day evangelism conference and mission trip to reach millions of revelers for Christ in New Orleans.
—From declaringtruth.com/story
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