Celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ
Bill Calvas is a faithful member of our church. He and a number of his friends spend many weekends a year preaching the gospel boldly on the street. Last week they preached in Detroit during the NCAA Basketball tournament. The Free Press interviewed Bill. He sincerely gave glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. Bill has a deep affection for Jesus and for people and longs to express the gospel and be faithful to the Lord. Here is the article:
A man with a megaphone
He urged Final Four revelers to repent for sins now
BY JIM SCHAEFER – FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER – April 12, 2009
Whoa, Sparty. Hold on a minute.
You heathens who attended the national championship game last Monday have your priorities all out of whack.
The proper way to think, if you adhere to the preachings of a few fellows with a megaphone on Adams Avenue near Ford Field, is this:
Go Jesus! Or burn in the flaming embers of Hades!
Bill Calvas, 50, of Dearborn stepped down from his soapbox long enough to explain.
QUESTION: Why are you here?
ANSWER: We’re here to celebrate the Lord Jesus Christ. As others are celebrating sports, we’re here to celebrate our Lord. It’s obedience to God’s word that commanded us to go into all the world and to preach the gospel.
Q: One of your friends was telling me you guys do this at other big events? … Indy 500, that kind of thing?
A: Yeah, we travel all over the Midwest. We all work, and during the weekends, we leave our families and our wives at home and we go around wherever the Lord might lead us to go.
Q: Some of the things you say, some people would take exception to, especially on a night when they’re out trying to party. Do you get any bad reactions?
A: Jesus Christ warned us that there would be a bad reaction to us. “They’d persecute you and hate you for my namesake.”
Q: You’re professing a pretty scary message tonight. Repent, don’t party or you’re going to burn in hell!
A: Well, repentance is something that you need to do right away, absolutely. Today, the Bible certainly declares, today is the day of your salvation. It’s not tomorrow because we don’t know what a day might bring. … Somebody’s gonna walk into a building, somebody’s going to fly an airplane into a building and whatever happens, you know, can happen instantly. And you’ll be in eternity forever, one place or another.
Q: Let me propose something. What if people went out and partied tonight and repented tomorrow?
A: There’s always room for repentance, but God never promised anybody the next day, that’s the whole thing. And that’s how I had to come to terms to it, too. Because I was one of those same partyers and revelers that you see here. … And I turned around and walked in a different direction.
Q: Hey, that guy just threw a piece of gum at one of your partners!
A: Well, I can expect that. There’s probably going to be a little bit worse later on.
Contact JIM SCHAEFER: 313-223-4542 or jschaefer@freepress.com
That is awesome!
“Go Jesus! Or burn in the flaming embers of Hades!”
Should people be scared into coming to Christ? Hell is a very real place and shouldnt be taken lightly, but should you purposefully use phrases that only evoke fear from its readers?
Had the sign read “Go Jesus! Or you wont go to heaven!” The sign would have said the same thing, without trying to scare the reader. Yes hell is a terrible place. Yes many, many people will go there and Christians should try to bring as many as they can to Christ, but bringing fear into the equation seems unsettleing to me. In my opinion, it seems like using fear based language would turn more people off to Christ than bring people to Him.
We shouldnt turn to Christ because we’re fearfull of hell and Christ provides the “fire insurance” we need to avoid it. We should turn to Christ because we realize that our life is worthless without Him; nothing we can ever do or say will be of any worth without Him in control of our life.
I applaud the boldness of Bill Calvas and I’m sure there have been countless seeds planted. I am just unsure of how to properly express how I feel about using fearful language to bring people to Christ.
I’ve got the same problem as you,
i envy you for the way you can express yourself through words. indeed you are talented.
love your blog Wonderful post.
this was adorable
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