New Orleans, LA - Mardi Gras + 7.23.05

UPDATE: On a side note. Since this trip we have encountered people in Colorado Springs, Chicago, and Kansas City who have yelled across the street to us, "Go back to Mardi Gras", or something else indicating they saw us in New Orleans. It is amazing how God can impress His word and gospel upon a persons heart without us even speaking a word.

This trip exposed me to a day of intense spiritual warfare. But one thing that I have learned lately is that spiritual warfare isn't something that we just face when we are out on the street sharing Jesus with others, but it is something that I face daily as satan battles with me to distract me from my relationship with God. In all honesty, I couldn't express what I thought was going to happen in New Orleans, and what happened was so amazing.Anyway, after driving for 15 hours and sleeping in the Explorer the night before, we arose and went to fight for Jesus arriving at downtown New Orleans right at 9am.

The day was Fat Tuesday, the craziest day during Mardi Gras as many people practically demoralize themselves to splurge on the last day of the festival. So we started out by driving downtown to find a parking place. We knew Jesus was going to provide something for us, and He provided us with a free space about a five minute walk from where we needed to go. Perfect! So we parked around 9am, prayed, then took the cross to the main street where the parades ended, which was Canal St. There were 15 parades that day, all of which ended down this street so we decided to spend a few hours on it during the morning.

The top picture is on Canal St. One of the most amazing things was that people were drinking heavily at 9am. They were drinking beer, hard liquor, everything. I was amazed. We were walking down the street against the way the parades came. Policemen told us we couldn't walk on the street so we left. After leaving, we walked behind the crows which provided for some amazing reactions. We would walk for a few minutes and then just stand behind a group of people. We would receive several weird looks. Also during this time we were sharing the Gospel with whoever was willing to talk with us. Jesus definitely opened up some doors for us to share with others. We prayed with several people. Around noon, we decided to explore the riskier parts of the city and we walked down Bourbon St., which is depicted in the second picture down. This was a very intense time as we were surrounded by people dressed in costumes as if it was Halloween, except many of the costumes were extremely disgusting. This was intense as many people decided to comment, which wasn't difficult.

The hard part was just being immersed in a placed that worshiped sin, that thrived off of sin and exploiting it. The only way that I made it through there was through the strength of Jesus. One awesome thing on Bourbon St. was seeing some other Christians. There was a group of 300 men who were in groups of two every thirty yards or so handing out tracts that explained the love of Jesus and how amazing it was. The deeper we got into Bourbon St., the worse it got. Finally after walking down Bourbon for about two hours, the bars etc. ended and we took a break, thanked Jesus, and refreshed ourselves in the Living Water. After leaving Bourbon St. we went to the French Quarter and joined a parade to carry the cross in which is depicted in the third picture. We got some weird looks and comments but it is all good. After going through that we ran into a group of twenty Christians who were playing praise music and handing out free sack lunches. A lady offered us a sack lunch and we took it. Once again Jesus provides for our needs. We returned to Canal St. around 3pm and stayed there for a few hours until the parades ended. Then we took the cross back to the car because we were informed by the Christians on Canal St. that the policemen would remove us and the cross immediately if we were there with it at night on Bourbon St., which is where we wanted to be since it was the place of the action.

After we took the cross to the car we returned to Bourbon St. around 6:30. We were looking for the group of 300 men to join and share the gospel but we couldn't find them. However Jesus did lead us to another man who was carrying a huge cross made from PVC pipe, which was allowed on Bourbon St. because it was so light. So we stayed with a few brothers there for an hour and shared the love of Jesus with them and all who would give us a minute to converse. We then moved further down the street, seemingly deeper into the chaos, where we found a group of about ten people with a few large crosses and signs that glorified Jesus. We joined them and shared the gospel with everyone we could. I spent some time on the side streets where the chaos was not as large, and I found it easier to find people to converse with. Jesus definitely opened up the door for me to share with several people in depth.

The coolest part was joining the group of people there and seeing their joy in Jesus. When a person would decide to receive Christ, they would get more excited than I have ever seen a human, which was so encouraging because we are promised in Luke 15:7 that all of heaven rejoices over one person who returns to Jesus. It was a blessed evening as I saw four people accept Jesus as their personal savior. Our ministry isn't about numbers, but it is so awesome to see a person acknowledge they can't do it without Jesus. That made the trip so awesome. So we hung around there until about 11pm and then we left. Our bodies were exhausted. We then drove home. I praise Jesus that He enabled us to make this trip, that He allowed us to share the Truth, and that He called the lost to Himself. He is truly the Prince of Peace. We cannot do it without Him. Please pray for the seeds that were planted here at Mardi Gras 2003 to be watered by God, that He would give them an increase.