Everyday Evangelism - Evangelizing at the Longwood Festival

The Longwood Arts and Crafts Festival - November 19, 2011 

    This day was a very good day as far as talking to people about the Gospel. Most of the people were very receptive and seemed to want to talk. But it didn't start out that way. I got there a little later than I wanted to, but we did find a parking place, pretty close to where we parked last year.
   As we were going toward the festival, I was pushing my cart which was overflowing with goodies. I was also carrying a big poster, and my son was carrying a card table. We were almost there and the wheel broke off my cart. My son suggested pulling the cart, which is how we did it the rest of the way.
   We got there, and I did a quick set up. I started talking to people right away and was in a conversation with someone when my poster blew over and the easel fell down. So I had to pick it all up again and try to arrange it all so it wouldn't fall over any more, which has always been the challenge. The tracts were blowing off the table, so I had to find something to hold them down. This time I put the poster on the ground leaning against the easel with Silly Putty stuck on the back so it wouldn't come apart from the easel! It finally worked.
   One of the first people I talked to was a young woman who was defensive about being a Christian. So I tried to explain to her that there will be some people who die, who call themselves Christians, who will hear the reply, "I never knew you. Depart from me..." She seemed to believe that it was easy to be a Christian. I'm not sure she really had a heart understanding of the Gospel.
  My son was talking to a man, and he looked really convicted. I didn't get his name, but after we asked him questions, he explained that his wife was a Christian, but not a born again one (Interesting), but his children were born again, and he was the heathen of the family. We gave him the the booklet "How Good Are You?" so hopefully, he will read it and take it to heart.
   Then I was talking with some young girls, and really having a good conversation with them, when a woman came out from nowhere and tried to finish what I was doing. The only difference was that she used the terms 'Ask Jesus into your heart'. I thought she was the mother, and I was thinking she was quizzing her daughters on the Gospel. But she wasn't their mother. She was a person who said she was an evangelist. She put emphasis on 'praying the prayer' and assured the girls they were saved. She gave them assurance, because they 'did it'. I know God is sovereign and can still work in the girls hearts in spite of it. I know the girls didn't understand the Gospel at the beginning.
     After we got done and packed up, carrying the poster and pulling my broken cart, while we were on the sidewalk, my son gets a bloody nose. I told him to just keep walking and was hoping he would try to make sure that the blood would drip on the sidewalk. We went a little ways, and a woman was trying to read the poster. She was friendly and wanted to talk. So I started asking her the trivia questions. I asked her a couple of questions and my son's nose started bleeding a lot. So I gave him the keys and told him to go to the car. The lady was very understanding, and said that it was ok and she understood that i had to take care of him. I left her with 2 tracts that I found on my way out in the trash can.
   Lots of beach balls were taken, and a few flying disks. All 100 tracts I labeled last night were given out. The people loved the posters with the questions and we asked many people if we could give them the Good Person Test, to which most responded with a 'yes'.
   God allowed us to have a profitable day with many difficulties to work through. We wouldn't expect a day to go perfectly would we? We know Satan isn't happy when God's word goes out. With God's permission, he will attack whatever we are doing, or try to discourage us. Even though the Word didn't get out the exact way I would have planned, it got out enough for God to be able to use it. And the results are His. We will look forward to seeing much fruit in eternity.