2001 power

Reading this Power Evangelism book has made me think a bit. In a good way. Mostly I'm just contemplating how come if it really is a valid deal, why I haven't really seen something like that before. Is it because I've got a worldview that says those kinds of things don't happen? Maybe I've got a closed mind? Maybe I haven't really looked for it, or had an open heart to God really speaking to me, in a tangible, audible way? I don't exactly walk around with having this concept of 'Divine Appointments' in my head...
In the summer of 2001 I took a team of high school guys to do some conversational evangelism on the boardwalk of Ocean City, MD. We went for 3 days and the only task we were there for was to talk to people on the boardwalk about spirituality. We had a rough survey put together, which I got from SEMP, and bascially asked people if they might be interested in answering some questions about religion and spirituality. Most people were pretty receptive. There is something about the boardwalk at the beach at night, a kind of charge in the air, all the more when you might be engaging people about eternal things. For the whole time we were there, the guys were ok to go off on their own, as long as they were in either pairs or groups of three. One evening, two of our guys started talking to an older gentleman, sitting on a bench. He seemed pretty interested in what they were saying, until his wife came out of the store he was sitting in front of. They could not have been opposite. He was very engaging, talkative, open to hearing and listening. She was aggresive, dogmatic, not wanting to listen, dialogue or even share her name. She had a different spirit about her. Eventually, she looked at one of my guys and asked, "Your birthday is in May isn't it?" E and T booked it out of there as fast as they could. They were, understandbly, spooked.
I think about it now and wonder if that was a situation that was what Wimber would call a power encounter, meaning that there was 'a force that must be overcome for the Gospel to be believed.' I kind of am thinking that there was, but we didn't know how to deal with it, so instead, did the natural and easiest thing, ie. leaving the situation. As I ponder it now, its a kind of scary proposition - to take high school students and potentially expose them to something of that sort. It is sooooo out of our American worldview. Of course, the opposite extreme of having to deal with something almost out of a movie is that we have the potential to expose our students to having a transforming encounter with Jesus. Yup, its worth it.
If you are taking a group on summer missions this summer, think about this idea of a power encounter. Would love to hear from people about it.