Season Opener - Des Moines St. Patrick's Day Parade 2016

March 18th marks the Evangelism Season Opener with the Des Moines St. Patrick's Day parade. I think it went rather well this year.

For starters I got there around 10 am and started conversations early before the parade started at 12pm. It was a good time of prayer and really seeking the Holy Spirit for His help in wisdom, understanding, and relating to the people who come. 

Nathan had come later with his new Pastor and another member of his church. It's really cool to see others be stretched and share Christ with the lost. They gave out  THESE TRACTS and kids as well as adults loved taking them. 

As for the conversations that took place they were pretty good this year. Of course the majority were with unbelievers and those who say they are Christians who claim Christ but could not articulate the gospel at all. One such conversation I was able to use my Tactics In Defending The Faith, which I taught my church a few months ago. This conversation I had was with two couples in which when I gave Lucky Bucks, they asked what it was. I told them it was a gospel tract, and one of the ladies threw it on the ground and backed away literally at least 10 ft and looked visually disturbed. She even said, "I don't want that sh**! I believe in God but I don't want that garbage." It was obvious that she had no relationship to the Lord, nor cared to even know. Her boyfriend, who was a rather tall man, was pretty blunt with me:

Heathen: "You shouldn't push your religion on other people. You shouldn't tell people what they should believe." 

Me: "Why not? Is that what you believe?"

Heathen: "Uh, yeah..." Taken back by what I said. 

Me:  "So why are you pushing your beliefs on me? How come you can push your beliefs on me but I can't on you? See the problem?"

Heathen: "Well, you should just let people do what they want."

Me: "I'm human and doing what I want. Honestly all I am doing here is sharing gifts. Someone shared with me this gift and I am sharing with others. But that's ok. If you would like to in your own time scan the back code with your smartphone it will take you to a YouTube Video and will explain it in your own time." 

 Some of the conversations I had went really well like THIS ONE with a young lady and her father. Even though the audio isn't all that great and I am as excited as Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, it was a good conversation. I took it to show that you don't have to be an eloquent speaker to witness for Christ because He gets the glory anyway. It's my belief that I shouldn't just give the gospel, but encourage young believers with their walk, and to challenge them to share their faith. So many Christians out there need encouragement to grow and not be afraid to share their faith.I'm glad this father obviously invests the time in his daughter with her walk. We need more dad's like this, and it encouraged me to press on to the end. Thank you sir.

Towards the end Nathan and I were walking and watching the crowd. Men, women, and children were pawing, grasping, and screaming for useless plastic beads. Those same ones that rejected the gospel of life only found in Jesus Christ. They were pawing for useless beads and rejecting the precious pearl of great price. It was sad. Nathan turned to me and said, "It sounds like they are already in hell screaming in pain." Its true. In some ways they are, but that's why we are out here, so that we can save some (1 Corinthians 9:22). I knew what Nathan meant. A few years ago I was passing out tracts at the parade closer to the tall buildings. The screaming was deafening. It bothered me so bad that after I was done passing out my tracts I tucked myself in an alley, cried, and prayed for the souls of those who were there.

In the end I gave out all my 220 Lucky Bucks, Nathan gave out 800 and the other two 1,000. So we were just over 2,000 with 4 people. We were separated for most of the time until the end. Just imagine if we had more Christians with us who aren't afraid to share Christ with a lost world, and how much more area we could cover. We were able to cover an area from the start of the parade on MLK all the way up past Welmark on 12th St. Like my old Pastor used to say, "Many hands make light work.". We need more workers for the Kingdom. Consider coming with us.