HOW HEART FOR HIM MINISTRY TO HOMOSEXUALS BEGAN
One night in the spring of 2005, with a team of Christians, we headed out to West Hollywood asking God to use us for His glory in reaching the homosexuals in the gay bar district of LA.

Another Christian man, Andrew, had been witnessing to this block of West Hollywood for over a year now. I asked, “So, what gave you a heart to reach the homosexual?” He said, “Well, at first I was totally grossed out by this! I hated it. I only went with my friend, so he would not be doing the evangelism alone. Then one night, when I was off to myself praying asking God why I was there, a little sixteen year old boy came up to me dressed like a girl. It was amazing in that I was standing there praying, disgusted about being there, and in that very moment, this boy approached me. I made conversation with him and was nice. So, then the boy asked, “So, do you want to take me home? Would you like to buy me?” Andrew continued, “I thought what kind of broken heart is this? And ever since then, I have had a heart for these homosexuals to be set free and saved.”

On the way to the gay bars, we prayed for the lost sheep. We realized that many of these people were raised in Christian homes and have Christian parents praying for them. We found a table set up by teenagers. These little boys at thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen years old were there giving away condoms. They said, “We are not allowed to go into the gay bars yet, so we just come out here to give each other moral support.” My heart broke as I looked into their eyes. They had all been sexually molested more than likely. And where were their parents on a school night at 10:30 and all night long? I gave out some tracts to them by Stephen Bennett of his testimony called I Was Gay, telling of how Jesus changed Stephen. It gives the salvation message along with verses to show how much God hates sin, including homosexuality, but loves the sinner…The boys loved it! One said, “May I have one, too?” I saw them sitting on the ground reading it.

Then, we passed a table and the girl called out, “Free HIV Testing!” She looked at me and asked, “Have you been tested for HIV?” …

So, then we walked past the gay bars and the lines of homosexuals, and we stopped to pray for God to show us how to reach them. We saw guys off to the side…I spoke with one, and another Christian on our team spoke to another…we gave out the tracts left and right of Stephen’s testimony, along with another tract called You Are Truly Precious in God’s Eyes which gives verses for salvation and the Gospel message. One guy started laughing when I talked to him about Jesus. I said, “You laugh, because you think it is too good to be true, right? It just seems too good to be true that God could love you so much and that the blood of Jesus could cleanse you from all sin. But it is not too good to be true, if only you will believe.” We asked a few if they wanted prayer, and everyone without exception consented to it. We prayed for them and gave out the tracts written by Stephen Bennett. My heart was just so broken looking at these people created in the image of God. I felt speechless at times. The saddest of all were the children.

On the way back to the car a little fourteen year old black boy asked, “Would you like a lubricant?” I said, “No, don’t want a lubricant.” I hugged the little guy.

As we walked back to the car heavily burdened, the Lord gave us an idea for evangelism! We could set up a Christian table there alongside the tables of condoms, HIV testing, and the leather!! How exciting and sweet for Jesus to come to those poor people. The Lord gave us an idea for a sign for the table. For this gay bar district, the sign at our Christian booth could read over a sky background: A Heart for Him. The homosexuals will come over out of curiosity, and then when they look closer, they will see Psalm 37:4 at the bottom of the sign (which is “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart”). Then, we will have another sign of the following message: We Are Sorry for the Way We Have Mistreated You. They will think, “Mistreated us? We don’t even know you!” Then, we can say, “Well, we are Christians, and we are sorry if any Christian has ever spit on you. And we are sorry if any Christian has called you mean names…because the God of the Bible is love, and He is pure, and He is not like that…and we are sorry for your pain.” Then, we will have the following resources on our table:

Gospels of John (pocket size); individual sermons on “Loneliness” and “Our Unmet Needs” on individual cassette tapes by Dr. Charles Stanley; all of Stephen Bennett’s tracts-his testimony, his tract on The Traditional American Family, and You Are Truly Precious in God’s Eyes; Steps to Peace with God tracts from Family Life Communications; and we also will have hand-size Bibles (New Testaments) on the table, as well as some paperback Bibles specifically for the youth. Mostly, these people will be passing by us on the way to and from a bar, so we want to keep the resources conducive for that environment. We will also have Stephen Bennett’s testimony available on CD. We will let the Lord bring the people over to us and not try to “push” anything over on anyone, but allow the Holy Spirit do the work for the glory of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says…such were some of you, but you have been cleansed… This passage shows that people can be redeemed from homosexuality and have been being redeemed and set free from this since the church at Corinth. These first believers, according to this passage, were homosexuals at one time, but they were cleansed, the Bible says. Also, in the ministry, we will refer to the verse, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Rev. 21:5) All things! It is not His will for any man to perish. It hurts God to send people to hell. We want to reach out to the homosexuals, as well as every other type of person on earth. God loves the sinner and hates the sin.

The ground is level at the foot of the cross, and we are all vile sinners in the light of the glory of Jesus. Won’t it be great to see some of these people set free? Won’t it be fun to love these kids with the pure love of God? That will be something different for them.

We invite you to join us and labor with us through prayer for this new ministry to West Hollywood. We will be easy to spot-the only Christian table between the AIDS testing and the condoms and lubricants.

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. I, Jesus, have sent you My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. – Rev. 22:14-17

--Dwayna Litz