Kentucky Derby Outreach 2018

Kentucky Derby Outreach 2018

I Love Jesus

Another Kentucky Derby Outreach and another rainy Kentucky Derby. We were blessed to have 35 evangelists around the country participate in Sports Fan Outreach International’s outreach this year. We heard the usual “God is love,” “God loves everybody,” again this year. For some reason it seemed like there were a lot of people this year that said I love Jesus. 

Even though that sounds wonderful, what they really were saying was that they love the Jesus of their imagination and not the Jesus of the Bible. We know this because when we’d lovingly try to talk to people that said “I love Jesus” more times than not they’d say the f-word as they walked on by or they would turn around and flip us off. That doesn’t sound like someone that really loves Jesus, does it to you?

Many Witnessing Encounters

It was supposed to rain most of the day on Friday, but instead it was a warm day and the rain held off. Since we had four teams this year, there were many witnessing encounters that I didn’t even hear about. But here are some that I did see and/or hear about. Andy talked to Al who was wearing a shirt that said Only God. But Al’s living in sin and says he just asks for forgiveness. Andy shared God’s truth with him about true biblical repentance and faith in Jesus.

Bobby was preaching and talking about the Georgia Bulldog’s mascot, how some people foolishly worship this dog. About that time a man walked by and said that dog is more real than God. While I was bringing a message, a bow tie wearing guy in a pink shirt mockingly took a selfie in front of me. Bobby told the young man this may be your last day on earth. The mocker replied “live your own f-ing life. You are wrecking everyone’s day.”

While Zack was bringing a message, a woman walked up to him and said that she’s a pastor and she was saying my god this and my god that. She gave Zack her business card and it turns out that she’s the pastor of a gay friendly church. Unfortunately, nothing she said lined up with the actual God of the Bible. A guy that appeared to be drunk, rejected a tract, but said that he loves Jesus. Eric was preaching and heard the guy, so Eric said you say you love Jesus, but do you obey him (Luke 6:46).

Jesus Wouldn’t Say These Things

I started the day off trying to hand out A. W. Pink’s Repent Or Perish tracts. It seemed like only about 1 out of 20 people were taking them, so the next time I brought a message, I talked about the tract. Right when I was reading part of the tract that said unbelievers will claim there is no God, a guy walked right in front of me and said “There is no God.”

Then a woman came up and said Jesus wouldn’t say these things. I said ma’am, I’m reading this tract and the very first thing it says is Luke 13:3 – Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. These are Jesus’ very words. How can you say Jesus wouldn’t say these things? Bobby, Dan and I tried to reason with her, but she walked away shaking her head, still convinced Jesus wouldn’t say these things. While that was going on, a young woman was dancing in the middle of the street, mocking the message. Right after that, a vile woman walked up to me like she had a question, but instead she grabbed the microphone on my headset and started making crude comments. I pulled away from her immediately and kept going with the message.

Viking Helmet Girl

Eric had a good conversation with the Viking helmet girl. We see her every year and she always has a gallon of spiked cider with her. She leaves when the jug is empty. It was about half full when Eric talked to her. He kept telling her that God has a standard and he kept bringing her back to the 10 Commandments. He read 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 to her about no drunkard shall enter into the kingdom of God.

She asked Eric to pray for her. He did so but told her that he can’t pray anything into or out of her. Eric prayed that the Lord will remind her of the Gospel that she heard and that He would convict her. She is such a unique person that we remember her from years before and we have shared 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 with her before too. So several of us echo Eric’s prayer that God will bring these verse back to her remembrance and may the Lord convict and convert her.

I Love Jesus Woman Knocks Tracts Out Of Evangelist’s Hand

Zack was handing out tracts and a woman walked by him saying “I love Jesus” and then she forcefully knocked the tracts out of his hand. Like I asked earlier, does that sound like something a person that really loves Jesus would do? If you love Jesus, why do you hate the Gospel going forth in written form?

Later on, I was on the box and a couple of high school students came up to me. They appeared to be drunk. The one kid just kept asking me if I’ve sinned since I’ve become a Christian. In God’s providence, Bobby and I had just talked about this over lunch. Bobby pointed out that a lot of open-air preachers (including myself) will say we are sinners like everyone else. But Bobby pointed out to me that the Bible calls believers saints and unbelievers sinners (1 Corinthians 1:2).

You’re A Sinner Just Like The Rest Of Us

So I admitted to the kid that I have sinned since I’ve been a Christian. He laughed and said, “See, you’re a sinner just like the rest of us.” I replied, “No, the Bible says I’m a saint.” That doesn’t mean I’m sinless, but my sins have been forgiven. He then said that he’s a saint too. I had to tell him, no, unless you have repented from your sins and put your trust in Jesus, then you are not a saint, you are still a sinner that needs to repent and surrender his life to Jesus. At that, he cussed a little bit and walked away.

I can’t remember his friends name, but it started with an R. This young man is a Roman Catholic and thinks that he’s a good person. I asked him to share the Gospel with me and he said God is love. That’s all there is to it. Surprisingly, he stayed around and I shared the Gospel with him. Then I highly encouraged him to read the Bible. He said he didn’t have time with school work. I held the Bible out to him and said you can’t read one verse? R kind of laughed at that as if to acknowledge he could probably work in at least one verse a day. Then he shook my hand and walked away. I sincerely pray that God will save this young man.

Rainy Kentucky Derby

Saturday it rained the whole time we were at Churchill Downs. In the late afternoon, it rained hard. I only handed out around 150 tracts on Friday, but surprisingly, around 200 people took tracts on Saturday, even in the rain. Probably around 15 or 20 ended up on the ground near us, but I salvaged a few of them and handed them back out again. Normally I leave tracts on the ground hoping someone else will come along and pick them up, but I figured in the rain the tracts wouldn’t last, so I “recycled them.”

Because of the rain, I didn’t keep as good of notes on Saturday as I did the day before. But while Jamie was preaching a man named Craig said that we are all good people. Mark also tried to reason with him as he walked away from talking to Jamie. A gentleman named Brian asked Dan to pray for him. Then a guy in a green jacket walked by while Adam was preaching and he said “love the world.” That’s all there is to it – just love the world. Then while I was bringing a message (and I wasn’t preaching hard) a guy in line to go in through the gate got really mad. He was so upset that Greg and Mark both came and stood by me. For a second, I really thought the guy was going to come over and start something.

Woman Worships The Creation Rather Than The Creator

We really don’t know what happened, but on Saturday, there was blue (from a porta-potty) was flowing down the street next to the curb right in front of us. While I was still bringing a message, a woman walked up to me and said instead of doing this (pointing to me open-air preaching) that I would be better off cleaning up the blue water. I replied ma’am, you are more worried about the created (the earth) than you are about the Creator. I disagreed with her; sharing the Gospel is more important than the porta-potty water flowing down the street.

While Mark was preaching, a couple walked up to him with one of their friends and they stared commenting on his camouflage rain gear. The young man and woman kept yelling “you kill animals.” Mark didn’t reply to that but kept preaching you must be born again (John 3:3, John 3:5). The young man seemed to be very drunk and was really mouthy, but he was another professing Christian.

Professing Christian Shaking Mad

Mark gently tried to get him to see his actions weren’t matching what he was saying. About that time the young man started letting the f-bombs fly. He was so mad that he was shaking. Then the friend started cussing Mark out. The whole time, the professing Christian’s girlfriend is still asking “Do you kill animals?” Her and the boyfriend both implied that you can’t be a Christian and kill animals. Obviously, they don’t have a very good grasp on the Gospel. As they walked off furiously, still cussing, Mark just calmly kept saying “You can’t even see the kingdom of God unless you are born again.”

Eric talked to Alex and Michael three different times on Saturday. The first conversation was a good one that lasted about 40 minutes. Then when Eric went to lunch, he saw both of them again. Later that afternoon, Erick saw them a third time. There are lot of people at the Kentucky Derby, so to see the same two people three times in one day is pretty amazing (actually it was God’s providence). Eric pointed out to them that God is trying to get their attention. He also gave them his contact information and hopefully one or both of them will reach out to him. May God convict and convert both gentlemen.

Pitiful People

Last year after The Derby, God convicted me that I had been too harsh on the mockers. I freely admit that when they said vile things like f-Jesus, I got riled up. But we aren’t supposed to return evil for evil or reviling for reviling. I’m pointing this out because this year instead of getting in the flesh and getting mad, God graciously opened my eyes to see how pitiful these people are. Maybe it was because of the downpour, but a lot of people came rushing out of Churchill Downs about two hours before the actual Derby race.

Yes, some came out mocking the preaching as usual. But I also noticed people walking right into the ankle deep or higher water rushing near the curb (It rained so much there were flash flood warnings, so the rain washed away the blue porta-potty water from earlier). I saw many people walking right through this water that was maybe three feet wide in spots and they didn’t even seem to notice. They walked in the gates laughing, hooting and hollering and yet they walked away, many of them very drunk, looking dejected, looking absolutely hopeless.

Dead Eyes

When I really looked closely at them, I noticed their eyes. They had dead eyes. Then it occurred to me that they have dead eyes because they are dead. They are spiritually dead. Unless Jesus Christ the Lord makes them alive, they will remain dead. I felt real pity for all of the people flooding out of the place. Oh, may God grant many of them repentance and faith in Jesus. May our gracious Heavenly Father grant them mercy and grace, the same mercy and grace that He granted me and the wonderful grace the apostle Paul talks about in Ephesians 2:1-10).

In these verses Paul describes the spiritual dead as following Satan, living for fleshly pleasures. Oh, but to those of us who are saved, God, in His great love and mercy, made us alive in Christ, even when we were dead in our sins. Thank You Lord and may you save many of these pitiful, dead-eyed, spiritually dead people that attended the Kentucky Derby. May you do so Lord for Your honor and glory.

*update – I encourage you to watch this video testimony by Tommy and Ken of a witnessing encounter at The Kentucky Derby.

Adam Preaching And Line Backs Up To Him