Texas Minister Takes On Homosexual Hostility, Spiritual Confusion
by Allie Martin
February 9, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Dallas-area church called New Wine Fellowship focuses much of its outreach effort on a predominantly homosexual area of town. Every weekend, members of the congregation hit the streets in a ministry known as "Soul Patrol."
These proactive urban missionaries visit different areas of the city, taking part in street witnessing. Often, they end up concentrating their efforts in areas with large homosexual populations where, according to New Wine associate pastor Jacob Watson notes, they sometimes receive a less-than-warm welcome from the residents.
"They're hostile," Watson says. "You know, we'll just be preaching the gospel, just mentioning sin in general -- because you can't leave out sin and preach the gospel." After all, he adds, "The gospel is not Jesus loves you; it's not Jesus will judge you. It's the entire message of justification and God's redemptive plan for the world."
The minister says many times the Soul Patrol group will just be "out there preaching," and homosexuals will come up and confront him, challenging him with statements like, "Well, you're telling me because I'm a homosexual I'm going to hell." However, he notes, this generally happens when he has not even mentioned homosexuality.
"So," Watson explains, "I'll say, 'No, I'm not saying that. But since you asked, I'll tell you what God's Word says.'" Then, the minister says he goes on to witness to the person, sharing his faith and telling the biblical truth in love.
New Wine's associate pastor says Christians should hate sin and the lies it causes, but should never hate sinners. But he feels many people, both in the Church and without, are confused because they harbor misconceptions about what it means to have a true relationship with Christ.
"You can't really tell if a person's born again, except if you look at the effects that the wind of God's Spirit has produced in their lives through changing them," Watson says. "So if a person's out in the club areas, drinking and fornicating, and they want to come up and [claim to be] Christian, you have to tell them what Jesus said in 1 John, Chapter 2 ... that he who says he knows [Christ] ought to walk just as He walked."
New Wine Fellowship opened three years ago, after being planted in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas. Its founders' vision was for a missions-oriented church that would be multi-cultural, multi-denominational, and multi-generational and would establish spiritually mature individuals and families. Founding pastor Bill Watson says God has done a mighty work within the church, which continues to grow and prosper in the Lord's care.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
