Thank You For Being Here
Ministry Update August 13, 2017
I witnessed at Planned Parenthood on Friday during my lunch hour. There was only one van there when I got there and the two women inside were the only customers I saw that day. Shortly after I began preaching, they came out. They cranked their radio up as they drove away so they couldn’t hear what I was saying. 
After that a car stopped in the street behind me and someone in the car yelled at me, but I couldn’t hear what they said. Then a little later a couple came out of Other Mothers (used children’s clothing store) and I think they may have been recording, but I’m not for sure. The man mouthed off something about nobody being there since the parking lot was empty. I assured him the workers inside still hear. I’ve seen the workers mock, record and so forth. So they definitely can hear the Gospel inside the building.
Grateful That Someone Is Standing For Life
It was looking like the normal mockers for witnessing at the place well known for killing little babies when suddenly a car swung into the parking lot. A woman jumped out of her car and headed straight for me. I have to admit my first thought was here comes another mocker. But instead, she stood there for a few seconds as I finished up the message. Then she thanked me for being here.
Through tears and a cracking voice, she told me that her mom came here years ago and was going to abort her. She didn’t say why her mom didn’t follow through with it, but the young lady was sincerely grateful that someone was standing there for life. I have to admit that she choked me up a little bit. (Out of respect for the lady and her family, I’m not sharing her name or her picture). We shook hands and I thanked her for her encouragement. One encourager makes up for dozens of mockers. Thank You Lord and I’m grateful that God is for life. He is the giver of life.
Fifteen or Sixteen Laborers
Then Friday night there were around 15 or 16 of us from Crossway Baptist Church handing out tracts at the Route 66 parade (not everyone is pictured). I don’t know how many tracts were handed out, but I’d estimate somewhere around 4,0000 tracts. The weather was perfect and it was a fun parade. People were there to see the old hot rods drive by and they were a great crowd. They really liked the Route 66 tracts.
Vinton and I handed out tracts together and a couple of girls said they already had them, but the guy that was with them took one from Vinton. He replied that he didn’t take one from the hot girl that came by earlier, so he’d take one from the hot guy. Vinton and I had a good laugh over the young man calling him a hot guy. Greg put this outreach together and we were very happy that so many people from our church showed up to hand out tracts.
Back Downtown Again
Then on Saturday Vinton and I joined Larry and Jeff – a couple of guys from Branson, MO that came up to witness at the Route 66 Festival. Larry and another gentleman paid for all these tracts that we handed out. Again the weather was great. My best guess is that we handed out another 4,000 tracts on Saturday. Vinton and I helped out in the morning, but Larry and Jeff were there all day. Praise God they handed out so many tracts.
Even though it was a very large crowd, a lot of people said they received tracts at the parade the night before. Many Christians that received them on Friday night said thanks for handing the tracts on Saturday. One lady walked by me and said you look like your enjoy your job. Maybe she thought I was getting paid to hand out literature. I just told her that I do like my job. Every week I enjoy handing out tracts and sharing the Gospel. I pretty much stood on the East side of Park Central Square most of the time. Holding tracts in both hands with my arms stretched out for people to grab as they walked by. Several people walked out of their way to take a tract from me.
You never know what God will do with even one Gospel tract. For example, I handed out tracts to three guys that were all wearing motorcycle jackets. As they walked about 30 feet out in front of me, one guy threw the tract on the ground. I kept handing out tracts. A while later I looked over where the tract had been tossed down and it was gone. Somebody else stopped and picked it. May God bless and multiply the tracts and may He draw lost souls to Himself.
(These updates are given to encourage Christians to share the Gospel with others. Chapel Library offers tracts for free. The simple act of handing someone a tract may lead to God convicting them to repent and surrender their life to Jesus after they hear the Gospel.)
