Star power can be a formidable force. Earth’s star attractions are often idolized by millions of adoring fans. Many enthusiasts go to great effort and expense to secure a seat when their particular idol comes to town.
The exuberance of fans entering a stadium or entertainment venue is often in stark contrast to their faces when heading home after an event. This cycle is observable at most sporting, musical, movie, theatrical, and even political events. Such was the case recently at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
The current songstress of our era was scheduled for six concerts in November 2024. All events were sold out well in advance with 50,000 fans attending each concert. Security advised that another 10-15,000 disappointed fans were milling about outside the venue, many desperate to pay big bucks for a ticket to get inside. Media hype was excessive and unrelenting. Toronto was under a spell of star stupor.
Enter our merry little band of believers eager to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ – heaven’s “Bright and Morning Star” (Rev. 22:16). For each of the six November events, various configurations of our team perched at prominent preaching points and declared the glorious gospel of God’s way to God’s heaven through the Lord Jesus Christ – the crucified, buried, risen, exalted, and soon returning King of kings and Lord of lords.
Vast crowds lined up as early as 3:00 pm each day for the 7:00 pm events. Waves of people flowed slowly past our signs, tracts, and preaching points before and after the concerts. But how to address such an audience in context?
In the pages of Scripture, we see our Lord Jesus Christ adept at speaking to people about what was on their minds. He often began his chats by talking to people about what they did know before deftly flipping the conversation to what they needed to know. Consider Nicodemus in John 3:2. “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” In response, Jesus talks about a greater miracle than Nicodemus could ever imagine – the miracle of new birth, the new creation.
In John 4, the woman at the well had water on her mind. She knew the value and necessity of water in sustaining life. She also knew that water must be accessed repeatedly. Thus, Jesus spoke to her of “living water” in verses 10 and 14: “…the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (v.14).
Following our Lord’s example and precedent, we proceeded to preach. Six sold-out concerts totaled 300,000 fans clutching tickets, with thousands more hopefuls clamoring to gain entrance. We used the contrast between the “haves and the have nots,” between those who had bought entrance for the one-time viewing of an earthly star and those who were never going to see their star. We pointed out that millions had received God’s free gift of entry to His majestic attraction of heaven’s eternal “Bright and Morning Star.”
At the Rogers Centre, multitudes were deeply disappointed that there was no more room, and no amount of money could gain them entrance to an already full house. However, we declared there to be, “No charge and no shortage of ‘seats’ or capacity in God’s heaven.” There is room for crowds which no man can number. Entrance is a gift purchased at the enormous price of the shed blood of Christ, heaven’s “Bright and Morning Star.” However, this offer of entrance is time-limited. Enter in time, or it will be forever too late. God’s offer expires upon one’s death or the Lord’s return. Enter while you may. Join us in the celestial celebration that will continue forever and ever!
In a scenario such as a major “star” event, the people are not in a conversation mode, especially in brisk weather. Instead, they were hurrying to enter the stadium as soon as possible. When the show was over, it was 11:30 pm and they were eager to leave for home.
We desired to preach to as many people as possible without any expectation of conversations. If we had stopped preaching in order to speak to individuals, many thousands would not have heard the gospel. However, a large amount of literature was given out and several young people from West Fifth Bible Chapel (Hamilton, ON) were encouraged by their first taste of open-air preaching.
One Christian asked if I thought anyone was listening. I replied, “I don’t know how many are listening, but I know that many thousands are hearing.” People may not be listening at the moment but they have heard God’s Word which can later be brought back to their remembrance and lead to saving faith. The Bible says, “…faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
What kind of response did we observe? There were many comments, side chats and much light banter throughout the six afternoons and evenings. The seed of God’s living Word was preached. We watered the seed with prayer and looked to the Lord of the harvest to bring forth fruit to His glory.
There was an additional blessing to our souls. Many Christians who attended identified with the good news saying they were “so encouraged, heartened, and challenged” to see and hear Jesus being preached publicly. Above all, we trust that God was glorified as His Son Jesus Christ, the Lord from glory, was declared to be the One who “came into the world to save sinners” (I Tim. 1:15).
Wonder of wonders!