University of Texas Outreach Ministry Report (Texas vs. Baylor)

By Francisco Nieves

11/25/2022

I cannot believe that the college football season is already over! Today was our last home game against Baylor University. Tom McLaughlin and I arrived at the college stadium at around 8 am and we were surprised that there were not that many people tailgating. I think that this was because of a combination of things. For starters, it was black Friday and people were probably out shopping. Secondly, it looked like it was going to rain. Thankfully, it did not rain while we were out there.

Since there were not that many people walking by at our normal ministry location, we decided to move closer to the stadium and try to find a busier intersection. This was both a good and a bad decision. It was good because eventually the crowds did show up and we gave out way more gospel tracts than ever before. However, it was bad because we had law enforcement called on us for using amplification. Nevertheless, we preached for like an hour and a half before the cops arrived, and even after they arrived, they let us preach there without amplification. 

Another evangelist named Drew eventually joined us, he got in the preaching rotation, and handed out tons of gospel tracts as well. Overall, it was a very good day of ministry. We had many positive responses from the crowds. One older woman even came up to us, gave us a hug, and told us that she was so happy that we were out there. That was very encouraging to us. We praise God for all the opportunities that we had this season to minister to the lost here in Austin. We pray that God will use the preaching of His Word for His glory!

University of Texas Outreach Ministry Report (Texas vs. Texas Christian University)

By Francisco Nieves

11/12/2022

It was another great day of ministry at the Longhorns game! The evangelists present were Tom McLaughlin, David and Ana Santisteban, Chris Popso and Sebastian Cordova and myself. As we were setting up, one of the evangelists heard a comment from the crowd that said, “There they go again, preaching at the same corner.” We praise God that people are recognizing our consistency and we pray that they are also listening to the message that we are consistently preaching. 

As always, we took turns preaching and handing out gospel tracts. Chris Popso got up on the box to preach in the open air for the very first time and he did an amazing job. God was greatly glorified in his boldness. In addition, our brother Sebastian Cordova, who came out with us for the first time, also got up on the stepladder to preach in Spanish! He was hesitant to do it at first, because it did not look like there were that many Spanish-speaking fans, but I encouraged him to do it anyway and he did a great job! Praise God that He is raising more people to come out with us to these events! 

I had a great conversation with a man named Austin that lasted about 30 minutes. I handed Austin one of our gospel tracts and he stood close by to read it. After he had finished, I approached him again and asked him what his thoughts were on what he read. He told me that he believed in God, but was not sure about much else. I asked him where he got his information about “God” and he told me that he looked within. This led to a great discussion of ultimate authority and the fall of man. Austin heard a clear presentation of the gospel. He told me that he had grown up in a Baptist church but had not been to one in a long time. I invited him to church with us and we are still praying that he will take us up on that offer. Please pray for Austin! Both this individual and the city. 

University of Texas Outreach Ministry Report

(Texas vs. Iowa State)

10/15/2022

Today was a great day of ministry at Darrell K Royal Stadium. Tom McLaughlin and I arrived at our usual ministry spot at around 8am. We quickly set up and began open-air preaching and handing out gospel tracts and booklets. A little bit later, we were joined by our good friend David Santisteban and his two sons, Luis and Solomon. David gifted us some pretty cool football jerseys so that we could look professional while we were preaching. The front of the jersey said “the way” and the back of the jersey had our nicknames on it. We looked very professional indeed!

We were greatly encouraged by several things today. First, we kept running into people who told us that they had already received gospel tracts from us in weeks prior. I pray that as people see our consistency at the stadium, they will begin to pay more attention to our message. Secondly, we saw our friend Darryl once again and he told us that he had just celebrated his 19th wedding anniversary and that he was going to fight for his marriage. If you have read the previous ministry reports you might remember that we had prayed for Darryl and his marriage for several weeks now so we praise God for this good news!

Thirdly, as we were leaving, we ran into another Christian who had just moved to Austin from Las Vegas and was standing at a different corner than us handing out little gospel of John booklets. We talked to him for a while, encouraged him and prayed for him before leaving. We told him to meet us at the stadium for the next home game. Please pray for this faithful brother! 

Sadly, there are only two more home games left for the regular season. One on November 12^th, and another on November 25^th. Interestingly, both of these games are against “Christian” universities, Texas Christian University and Baylor University. Please be in prayer for these last two outreaches.

University of Texas Outreach Ministry Report 

(Texas vs. Oklahoma)

By Francisco Nieves

10/08/2022



I left my house at 430am to pick up Tom McLaughlin and then drive the three hours to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas where the Texas Longhorns were taking on the Oklahoma Sooners (side note: the Longhorns upset the Sooner 49-0!). 

After a pit stop at Buc Ee's, and a pretty intense search for parking, we arrived just outside of the state fairgrounds, where the Cotton bowl is located, and were met by our good friends Joe Hinson and Will Dieterich. They had set up at a pretty strategic location near one of the main entrances. They were already open-air preaching and handing out gospel tracts by the time we got there. They had a constant captive audience as people waited in line to go inside. 

At this point, we decided to divide and conquer, and Tom and I set up about a block and a half away at another main intersection. This too turned out to be a pretty strategic location. In God’s providence this was where the greyhound buses were dropping off droves of Longhorns and Sooner fans. As a result, we had a constant stream of foot traffic going through our location. We praise God for the thousands of students and fans who heard the gospel during this outreach.

One pretty cool thing that happened was that when I got up to preach, a man named Brian stood right in front of me to listen. He seemed to be under the influence of something, but he was still able to have a conversation. I told him that I was about to preach from Psalm 5 and asked him if he would like a Bible to follow along. To my surprise, he said yes, and so I gave him a Bible and helped him find Psalm 5. 

I preached the message and when I gave a gospel presentation, I looked directly at Brian. As I was proclaiming the gospel to him, I saw tears flowing from his eyes. I took my microphone off and got down from the step ladder and went over to him and had a conversation. I asked him if I could pray for him and he agreed, so during my prayer I preached the gospel to him once again and left him with the Bible and a gospel tract. Please pray for Brian!

Another cool thing that happened, was that when I was up to preach again, a butterfly landed on my shoulder and was sitting there for the entire time that I was preaching. People were looking over to see the man on the ladder with the butterfly on his shoulder and I pray that they also got a chance to listen to the message.

We packed it up at around 11am, right when the game started. But before we drove back home, we all went to cracker barrel for some legendary pancakes (as Will likes to call them) and some great fellowship. It was a great time of ministry. Please continue to pray for fruit from this outing.

University of Texas Outreach Ministry Report (Texas vs. West Virginia)

By Francisco Nieves

10/01/2022

Before we had even set up, we heard a voice behind us that said, “You guys are back?”. When we turned around, it was our friend Derrick, who we had met and prayed for during the first game of the season. Derrick was having difficulty in his marriage and so we had the privilege of praying for him on that occasion and he asked us for prayer once again. It was such an encouragement to run into Derrick and to pray for him.

We arrived at Darrell K Royal Stadium three hours before Texas faced off against West Virginia. Tom McLaughlin, Thomas Foster, and Kurt Simms joined me at the stadium. During these three hours, we took turns open-air preaching. It was Kurt’s first time open air preaching in a very long time and he did an amazing job. We faithfully proclaimed the gospel for three hours straight.

When we were not open-air preaching, we were handing out gospel tracts and having gospel conversations. We were able to go through an entire box of the gospel booklets titled “Solving the God puzzle”. Please pray for all the people who received one of these little booklets.

As I was preaching the second time, a young man named Giovanni approached me to ask what I was doing. This young man was obviously under the influence of drugs, and so I handed the mic over to Thomas and step aside to talk to him. I challenged him on his life choices and encouraged him to repent of his sinful lifestyle and turn to Christ. Unfortunately, he was not in the right state of mind to respond to the proclamation of the gospel, so I left him with a bible and some literature. Please pray for Giovanni. 

University of Texas Outreach Ministry Report

By Francisco Nieves

09/17/2022

In a much-anticipated matchup, the University of Texas Longhorns faced their sister school, the University of Texas Road Runners out of San Antonio. San Antonio is only about an hour and a half from Austin and as you would expect a lot of the fans traveled the short distance to watch the game in person. For us, this meant very large crowds of both Longhorn and Road Runner fans. 

We arrived at Darrell K Royal Stadium about three hours before game time. I was joined by my good friend Tom McLaughlin and two of my daughters, Reyna and Adrianna. Tom and I set up as always on the corner of Trinity Ave and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. We immediately began open air preaching. 

Tom had prepared what he called a “stop-light” sermon, which was a short sermon about three-minutes long, that was saturated with scripture and presented the gospel in a very clear and concise manner. The goal was to preach the same message repeatedly whenever the traffic light turned green so that the crowds that were heading towards us could hear the entire message. It was a great strategy. Multitudes heard a clear and concise gospel presentation as they walked past us.

I had the privilege of preaching two messages, one from Luke 18:9-14-The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, and another from 2 Corinthians 5:20-21-The Great Exchange. 

As always, the response to our message varied. There were some Christians among the crowd that were of great encouragement to us. I even got a few fist-bumps while I was standing on the stepladder. However, there were many that were opposed to the message. One individual even went to law enforcement and complained about us, so we had to stop preaching for a few minutes while we sorted out the issues with them. However, since we had done nothing wrong, the police officer allowed us to continue preaching without hinderance. 

We also ran into our friend the pedicab driver once again. He is always ready to give us the one finger salute and yell out some not-so-encouraging words to us. I ask that you please continue to pray for him. May the Lord bless his soul and grant him repentance and faith. 

Overall, we had a great time. One of our Friend’s daughters blessed us with some free parking passes to the game. Normally we must pay 25 dollars for parking every time we go to these outreaches. What was even cooler, is that the parking garage was right across the street from where we normally set up. It truly a blessing. 

Please continue to pray for us. There is no home game next week, so our next update will not be for another two weeks. God bless!

University of Texas Outreach Ministry Report

By Francisco Nieves

09/10/2022

 What happens when the # 1 team in college football comes into town? It draws a record crowd. This weekend at the Texas versus Alabama game, we had the privilege of preaching to a record crowd of over 105,000 fans! 

My friend David Santisteban and I took turns preaching in the open-air to the massive crowds. Jose Ortiz, a member of our church, also joined us and handed out quite a few tracts. I was highly encouraged by all the Christians who walked by and supported what we were doing. One of our greatest desires is to motivate the body of Christ to a greater commitment to the great commission. Please pray that the Lord of the Harvest would raise up more laborers!

Of course, any open-air evolution is not complete without its scoffers. We would ask you to pray for one particular individual who has heckled us for the past two weeks. He is a pedicab driver who blasphemes the name of Jesus every time that he drives by (Father forgive him for he knows not what he is doing). I pray that God will open up his eyes and grant him repentance and faith and that he will one day join us in proclaiming the gospel in that same street corner.   

Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

University of Texas Outreach Ministry Report

By Francisco Nieves

09/3/2022

Beloved, we had a great time proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ yesterday to the thousands of fans who attended the first home game of the season for the University of Texas football team. 

I was joined by Tom McLaughlin, David Santisteban, and Kurt Simms to do some open-air preaching, tract distribution, and to engage fans in gospel conversations. Needless to say, it was a great start to a new season of ministry.

We arrived about two hours before kick-off time and set up at the corner of Trinity Ave and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive (a natural choke point for fans entering the stadium). We left about an hour or so after the game had started. 

While there, I preached from Psalm 19, David preached from the parable of the sower, and Tom preached from 1 Corinthians 1. The fans reacted to our preaching in a number of different ways. Some encouraged us with high-fives or “keep up the good work” statements, while others wagged their heads or even screamed obscenities at us. In all of this God was glorified! 

During these three hours, we handed out hundreds of gospel tracts. We pray that the Lord will use some of these to bring people to Himself. We also had the privilege of engaging in several gospel conversations. In one memorable instance, two individuals approached Kurt with a microphone and some recording equipment and asked him if he would be willing to be interviewed for their podcast. Kurt of course agreed and took this opportunity to proclaim the gospel to them and to the listeners of that podcast. Praise God for that opportunity. 

In another instance, a black Hebrew Israelite approached us and started cussing at us. David took this opportunity to calm the man down and proclaim the gospel to him. We pray that God removes his heart of stone and gives him a heart of flesh. 

I had the opportunity to speak to a young man, who was in his early twenties, and who was clearly inebriated. Surprisingly, as I spoke to him, he was able to articulate certain parts of the gospel (repentance, faith, crucifixion, resurrection, etc.). I pleaded with him to turn from his sins and to trust in Christ. As we spoke, tears began to run down his face. Please pray for this young man!

Lastly, we had the opportunity to pray for one of the ticket scalpers that was hanging around the same area that we were in. He confessed to us that his marriage was in shambles and so we prayed for restoration. As we prayed for him, we proclaimed the gospel to him and asked him to be reconciled to God. Lord please hear our prayer!

Overall, it was a great day of ministry. God was greatly glorified through the preaching of His word. We ask that you please continue to pray for us as we continue to engage football fans.