Kentucky Derby Outreach 2019

Kentucky Derby Outreach 2019

Pure Hatred

Thirty-one evangelists from around the country participated in this year’s Kentucky Derby Outreach with Sports Fan Outreach International. Yes, it rained again, both days. But the weather was warmer than last year and we actually had periods through both days where it wasn’t raining. There was a lot of open-air preaching during the 12 ½ to 13 hour days Friday and Saturday as well as hundreds of Gospel tracts that went out, New Testaments were handed out as well as one to one conversations. There were many positives to this year’s outreach. But what struck me the most Saturday night (before and after the actual Derby race) was the pure hatred. The pure hatred toward those who were open-air preaching, the rest of us near by and especially the pure hatred toward God.

Before I talk more about the pure hatred, I want to tell about the positive aspects of the outreach. The teaching Thursday night was phenomenal. The fellowship with the 30 other evangelists was great as usual and laboring with my brothers in Christ was another great experience. Many times, back home it seems we are out on the streets witnessing on our own and there’s just something very comforting knowing that God is compelling others to share the Gospel out in the streets, just like He compels us to do. I praise God that 55 people took New Testaments. I wasn’t comfortable in bringing more than that with me since it rained both days. But the New Testaments were handed out early in the morning both Friday and Saturday.

Several Encouragers

We had several encouragers – people who thanked us for being out there and sharing the Gospel. Several people said no thanks to the New Testaments because they already had Bibles at home. A few law enforcement officials took New Testaments, including one young man who actually came up to me and asked for one. I gladly gave him one and he told me that he’s a Messianic Jew. I told him that was great. We visited for a little while and I briefly shared my testimony with him. Adam C also posted a picture where there were six evangelists on one corner witnessing to 10 people at the same time. That was very encouraging to see. One lady turned around looking at the tract in my left hand as she passed me, so I reached out my right hand and she took the tract.

Now for the pure hatred. I’m sharing these especially for Christians who attend church but don’t really share the Gospel out in the world. Jesus warned us that people hated Him first, so they would hate us too. But if you’ve never experienced it first hand, you may not realize how bad it really is. These aren’t nearly all of the interactions, just a sampling of what we heard and saw. A girl asked Eric if she could go to Hell. He asked her to stop and talk, but instead, she turned around and flipped him off and kept walking away. Another woman told Eric that the Bible was written by men and that she believed in the old gods, not the new ones. I preached after Eric and brought up what the woman said. I pointed out what a foolish statement she made. How can any god be older than The Eternal God?

Shut Up And Go Away

While Ken was preaching, a young woman kept yelling shut the f up, f-you and told him to go away. He assured her that he wasn’t going away and invited her to come back and talk. Instead she made fun of his clothing. He told her that he wasn’t there to make a fashion statement, he was there to share the Gospel. A man mocked Ken and told him that everyone loves Jesus, except for Ken. A teenager acted like he was going to take a tract, but didn’t. Then he turned around and said, “We’re dead.” I said, “You’re right, you are dead, spiritually dead. Repent and trust Christ.”

Two young women mocked me while I was bringing a message. One raised her leg in the air like she was passing gas. I told her one day she will remember this if she continues in her sins and die. Both girls laughed and walked on. I caught the tail end of one conversation, but the teenager said, “So I hate Jesus?” “We go to Catholic school.” (We heard I’m Catholic a lot over the weekend, like that is some kind of magical get out of Hell free card). I told the teenager that Catholic school can’t save you, Jesus does. She replied, “Jesus doesn’t save s___.” One teenager flipped Dan and I off and we were just handing out tracts. I tried to hand a tract to one guy and he yelled, “Oh no, hail Satan.” Sadly, his family was with him and watched the interaction and they all laughed as they walked on past me.

God Is Dead Or God’s Not Real

Several people yelled, “God is dead” or “God’s not real” or “Jesus isn’t real.” An old man was mocking Dan while he preached. The old man said, “We’re all heathens.” I replied, “Yes, that’s why you need Jesus.” A woman in a pink sweater flipped Dan off. A guy in a pink suit refused a tract and said, “I’m trying to quit.” I replied, “No, you never had salvation.”  A different guy in a pink shirt and gray vest loudly said f-you to Eric. A cop intervened and told the guy to keep moving.

Toward the end of the night Friday night, a guy in pink pants said, “I’m going to gay land when I die. The gay lord says so.” He was saying these things while John was preaching. When I brought a message, a woman walked up beside me and hugged me (from the side). But she didn’t let go, so I looked at her and I could see that she was up to no good. I didn’t know if she was about to kiss me or what, so I spun out of her grasp and told her, “No thank you, I’m married.” She just laughed and walked away.

A guy rejected a tract from Joshua and said, “No, I’m good. I like to sin.” I offered a woman a New Testament and she literally threw her head back laughing. A little girl was about to take a New Testament from me and her mom yelled real loudly, “Tell him No Thank You!” It was heart breaking. An older gentlemen kept saying that Jesus was just a good teacher, that was all. One guy told Jaycen that he should be ashamed. No sir, we are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Is Allah God?

A young man said can I ask you a question while I was open-air preaching, “Is Allah God?” No, he’s a false god. Then the guy made a crude, sexually inappropriate comment. A lot of people around us laughed. So I said, Oh, you are so funny. You are going to die in your sins and go to Hell. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. No! It’s not funny! You are going to die and go to Hell if you don’t repent and surrender your life to Jesus. It’s not funny. This interaction reminds me of Isaiah 53:1, who has believed our report? It also reminds me of Psalm 2:1 and Psalm 2:4-5: Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

We heard things like, God’s not real. Jesus is not real. You guys are f-ing crazy. Give it a rest. One woman said, “I’ll pray for you tomorrow in church.” I’m a believer and I wouldn’t do this. My God is not a judger. All the lost souls, all the mockers and scoffers are heart breaking. The young woman that turned around with pure hatred in her eyes still stands out the most. Jesus told us not to be surprised when people hate us, because they hated Him first. Sadly, it also came to mind that these people would have been the ones crying out “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” if they had been there when Jesus was before Pilate (Luke 23:21).

Great Favor With The Police

But we also had great favor with the police. We didn’t have any issues at all. In fact, on a couple of occasions, they ran off our hecklers who were getting loud. We didn’t feel threatened and would have preferred continuing interacting with the hecklers, but we’ll gladly take this over the police trying to shut us down. On Saturday night a reveler stole Jaycen’s cross. Several of us had held it throughout the day, but at that moment it was near our witnessing bags and a young man just picked it up. Ricky was witnessing with our group on the next corner and he yelled at the thief to stop, that it wasn’t his cross. At that moment the thief took off running. Several policemen pursued and overtook him and retrieved the cross. We were very thankful fo

r law enforcement this year at the Kentucky Derby. May God bless the messages, the conversations, the Gospel tracts and the New Testaments. May God draw lost souls to Himself as only the Lord can do.