"Serve Where You Are" by Lonnie Carpenter

I just got back from our annual family get-together at Gravel Lake, which is located in southwestern lower Michigan. On the map above, Gravel Lake is pinned, and is just to the south of the village of Lawton, Michigan. When we're there, I have the privilege of worshiping God with the brethren at First Baptist Church in Lawton. This year, they had a fellowship meal after the church meeting, and I got to spend some time chatting with Pastor Lonnie Carpenter, and it was a great time.

I really appreciate this body of believers: though we only see them once a year, they usually remember us and welcome us into their church family. Lonnie has a heart to reach the lost for Jesus Christ in the Lawton area, and preaching and teaching the word of God and evangelism seem to be the heart and soul of the ministry.

Pastor Lonnie Carpenter (left) of First Baptist Church

Lonnie shared a message out of Acts 6-8 at the meeting I attended, and I thought it might be an encouragement to others who, perhaps, feel discouraged with the ministry the Lord has given them. We all could use a little encouragement, right? I mean, many of us cannot go to far off places to reach the lost like, a Jim Elliot or an Adoniram Judson did, though we thrill at the stories of these and other "heroes of the faith". And, probably, we don't have the organization, support and skills to gather a big crowd and record YouTube videos while street preaching, like a Ray Comfort. But God gives all of us opportunities to be faithful in small, perhaps unnoticed or mundane ways. 

I am reminded, however, that we are called to be faithful, not necessarily "successful", at least in the way we look at success from a worldly perspective. Lonnie's message was a good reminder for me to be content with that which God has given me to do, and trust God to be content with that until or unless God calls me to something else.

Lonnie titled the message, "Serve Where You Are & You Will Go Far." Click on this LINK to listen to the audio message by Pastor Lonnie. Enjoy and be encouraged, my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ!
Paul.

Book Review: Gospel Reset by Ken Ham

Gospel Reset: Salvation Made Relevant by Ken Ham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a must-read book dealing with which could possibly be the biggest problem plaguing the evangelical Christian church. This book is in the form of a wake-up-call to the church to start teaching the bible and evangelizing the American culture the way Paul did in Acts 17.

For many, many years we have been witnessing and sharing our faith to a Greek culture (who does not have the biblical foundations of God, and how He created the heavens and the earth) the same way we share our faith to the Jewish culture of Acts 2 (Who has the biblical foundations of God and creation). No wonder why when we are sharing our faith to the lost in America that they look at us as nuts. Even when using the Romans Road, or Ray Comfort's way of evangelizing and using the 10 Commandments to show a person they are a sinner, people still have no concept of what sin is, or that they violated any moral regulations to a deity who created them and everything in the universe. We have got to change how we evangelize to our Greek culture and first give them a foundation to set the whole house of the gospel on.

This book was revolutionary for me in that I need to change how I share my faith to people. I need to stop using the Romans Road, and start using a modified version of it, applying creation and our accountability to a just, holy, righteous creator. I need to be absolutely careful what tracts I use so as to not confuse people any further. I need to consider that people have no idea that there is one God, what sin is, or that they are accountable themselves. I have met multiple people right here in the bible belt of America that had no idea who Jesus was. Never heard of Him. Shocking. I need to be prepared to give an answer TO THOSE PEOPLE as well. To prepare yourself...first read this book. It is a quick read, and full of information. Straight to the point with no irritating filler.

Whether you are a Pastor, Youth Pastor, Evangelist, parent, or millennial, you need to read this book.

View all my reviews

Witnessing At Iowa State Fair 2018

Words cannot express how awesome this year was witnessing at the Iowa State Fair this year. This was the first time since 2004 we have been able to do witnessing inside the fair, instead of just witnessing outside the gates, talking to people leaving or going in, or people parking cars on their front lawns. This was a huge opportunity to be a part of.

Answers In Genesis Booth: August 9-14

Pella Tulip Time Festival was a great outreach not only for me witnessing, but meeting more evangelists, becoming friends and also networking with them. Not only with those from Iowa, but all over the U.S.. It was at this festival where I met guys like Tony Ramsek from Answers In Genesis. While I was at Tulip Time he invited me to join him and others to work the Answers In Genesis Creation Booth at the Iowa State Fair. Starting July 11, I signed up and started my Creation Apologetics 101 training and completed it a few weeks later. This was necessary tools to work the booth, and prepare me to answer tough questions in Creation Apologetics. 

The highlight of the booth was an 8 foot replica of Noah's Ark under glass with two trains underneath to show in relation how big the ark would be. It was pretty cool to share with people how big the ark would be in relation to the Varied Industries Building where we were. It was neat to see their eyes light up when I said that the ark was 10 feet longer than the building and 7 stories high! But what was even cooler was to share how the ark only had one door for salvation from the water. This was a picture of Jesus, the only way to salvation and escape hell. 

We also had a station where we gave children and some adults tattoos, which were the biggest and brightest tattoos of the entire fair. As I am writing this on August 20th, my tattoo I put on my leg is still visible since the start of the fair on August 9th! This is what I wrote on my Facebook wall about putting tattoos on kids. 

"Matthew 19:14 - "Jesus said, Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

For the past 2 days for the most part I have been putting these tattoos on children. From the outside looking in, one might call it a failure and a waste of resources. One person said to me that ive been to really rough environments, shared Christ to the toughest cults, and open air preached to people who would rather see me dead, and here I am giving kids tattoos. Though I imagine I've done several hundred tattoos or even more, I have enjoyed each one. I find it that I am more blessed than they are. Here I get to fully engage children, hold their hands, or arms, or even legs, look them in the eye, and tell them how much God loves the, cares for them, and that He even sent His own Son so that they can be with Him forever. That Jesus is the ARK for today. The only Ark with the only door for the only way that leads to salvation. Any other time this is not possible. I am an extremely blessed man."

 The booth also had a plethora of tracts, booklets, DVD's and featured two TV's displaying videos of the Ark Encounter in Kentucky, where they built a life-size ark. We met many people who were planning a trip, or have already gone.

The booth did attract the attention of cults as well. I personally spoke with 3 Mormons, 2 Jehovah's Witnesses, and we even had the President of the Iowa Atheist group come. Most of his time was telling us how sad we were and hardly got a word in.

Gideon's International Booth: August 10th

I was also blessed to be a part of the first ever Gideon's International booth at the Iowa State Fair. We were located on the East Exhibition Hall underneath the grandstands. Here we gave out personal worker's testaments to adults and testaments to kids 5th through 12th grade. We did have a young man named Vince, who spent alot of time getting questions answered. He was a professed atheist, but was really interested in what the bible had to say. The group worked very well with each other, and throughout the fair days there were calls and emails for more pocket testaments needed for the booth. It was a great success and hope this will continue in the future. 

Interview on 99.3 FM The Truth Radio: August 10th

Probably the amazing unexpected thing happened that I couldn't have forseen. While I was waiting for the bus to get to the fair, Chris Rohloff, Station General Manager of 99.3 fm The Truth, contacted me through Facebook Messenger and asked Tony Didlo or I, if we would like to be on the radio talking about evangelism in the Iowa State Fair. Since Tony couldn't get there this year, I volunteered to be on the show Faith Works Live with Mike Demastus and Chris Rohloff.  

The radio spot went well, and I was really excited to be a part of it. Without going into great detail I talk about how the Iowa State Fair affected me in ministry, conquering fear, and answering other questions regarding witnessing at the fair. You can listen to it HERE on facebook. My spot starts at 20:15 and lasts two segments between commercials. 

Even though I only spent the 9th through the 14th doing evangelism at the fair, it was an unbelievable time spent serving God and promoting the gospel of Christ. It was really cool working together with other evangelists, learning from each other, fellowshiping with one another, and being the church we were called to be. I love the men and women whom I work with, and look forward to being together again. 

Manti Mormon Miracle Pageant Outreach 2018

This year marks the 52nd consecutive Mormon Miracle Pageant, located in Manti, UT which started in 1967. This year it began June 14-16 and 19-23. It is an annual event that local and traveling Mormons go to every year to celebrate and remember their Mormon heritage, roots, and how it started. It is also an annual missionary project for various Christians who travel to this area to witness and share the true Christ to Mormons during the event.

The Pageant Itself

The Manti Mormon Miracle Pageant is comprised of three sections, which are made up of 20 scenes. The first section dealt with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The second section tells of the "history" of the people groups that are revealed from the gold plates Joseph Smith supposedly found. The third section bring us to the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and their persecution and struggle moving across the country 

to Utah. This pageant is, as you can see in the picture, is performed on the hill that the Mani Temple sits on. The event itself is very organized through a unified effort to share the Mormon faith. Many people come from all over the country to watch the performances, and every year they have anywhere from 60,000 to 80,000 Mormons in attendance (as opposed to less than 100 Christians who come to witness to them).

Why I Like To Witness To Mormons

What makes an evangelistic witnessing trip to Utah special is that it is part of the 10/40 window and also part of the United States. Do you realize that only 1% of the state of Utah is Christian? If that is the case, imagine being the only Christian who knows the gospel of Christ in your job, your high school, your town, and in even some cases...your county. Imagine being the only Christian church in 100 miles? That is crazy to think about happening here in America today. With that being said, there are many LDS who will never have a conversation with a Christian or hear the true gospel of Christ. Many of the young LDS missionaries will hear the gospel from a Christian while they are on their missions. But the one reason I like to witness to LDS is that I love these people, I care about them, and want to see them saved in the true faith. 

Witnessing on the Streets of Manti

Solid Rock Bible Museum Stand at food court.

 Witnessing this year at the pageant was a little different and for the better. Two years ago the LDS church bought the street that ran along the temple and was the main strip where we would do our witnessing. Since we cannot go behind the barrier, we were forced to witness in other areas. One street will not keep those of us away. Sometime between last year and this year the house where the food court usually sits was sold, and the yard was fenced in. This put the new food court on public property and over 4 blocks away, giving us Christians a much larger area to share Christ with the LDS people. Way more area than that was taken in

 the sale of the street. Since the food court is on public property, the Solid Rock cafe took much of their bible museum from the cafe and brought it to the pageant to show LDS that they bible has tons of archaeological evidence to support the it, and the Book of Mormon does not. This was a wonderful display and much appreciated by many who attended.

Each day a few hours before pageant started we would all hit the streets and try to get into conversations. Many of us would use tracts and just hand them out as door openers to share the conversations we desperately wanted to have. Some of us held signs, some wore t-shirts in hopes to have LDS consider their message. One girl in particular, who was new to this outreach this year had a different approach, which many LDS came to talk with her. She asked people to wall-sit in their own power for as long as they could stand it before giving up. Then as they are wall-sitting she would witness to them and ask them questions as to how difficult in was to follow the LDS religion. At the end, she would then say, "Why would you wall-sit in your own strength when you can sit down in Christ Jesus", as she removes a sign on the chair that says, "Jesus". "All you need to do is by faith, trust that the chair will hold you up," she would say as she would give them the candy that was promised.

Amy from Stand To Reason Ministries

But not all people were here for the LDS. Amy, from Stand To Reason, a Christian apologetic ministry was here to ask those who left the LDS faith if atheism is true. She did have a few conversations with those who had given up on God altogether after leaving the Utah religion. She encouraged them not to, "Throw the baby Jesus out with the bathwater" and to have faith in Christ, and not in what man has come up with.

This year I was excited to have Matt Slick, Founder of Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry [CARM] here to join us on the pageant streets. Not only was he an extremely funny person with a great sense of humor, but also a very caring and humble Christian man. Much different than how he portrays himself on his radio shows.

The conversations that I had were typical, and yet a surprise to me as well. The second day I had a conversation for about 45 minutes with two ladies as I asked them if a diagram I had was correct, that in order to attain eternal life in the Celestial Kingdom that they had to accoplish all these works on the list. It was very apparent that I knew more about their religion than they did; including statements like, "Well my husband drinks alot of beer and it doesn't stop him from going to temple."

Aaron open air preaching

Another time I made a wrong turn heading to the pageant from the food court winding up on a back road far from the area I needed to be in. I ran into three guys; Mike, Sam, and Carson, whom I thought were Christians, until Mike made the statement, "I'm a weird Mormon who believes in salvation by faith alone in Christ alone, but I still believe in the Book of Mormon." They all were out of the mission field for several years, but struggling with Mormonism and having faith in Christ. I talked with them for like an hour and had a great conversation but had to let it go so they can get to the pageant. I gave my card to Mike in hopes we could continue the conversation. We have emailed each other several times since. Last week I sent him a John Piper book, Desiring God. He is a big Piper fan, and has been studying Calvinism for a few years.  I'm willing to give up a book of mine for the gospel.

This year I traveled lighter and only took my LDS quad (which has all the LDS standard works) and an LDS book called True To The Faith, which shows the basics on Mormonism. Five years ago when I came the first time I took those, plus 3 more books. My back hurt so much, and I never touched the other three books the entire time I was there. Most of my conversations I never really touched on Mormonism unless I had to. The tracts I passed out were your regular million dollar bills from Tract Planet. I was also able to give out 8 Gideon New Testaments during the trip, which the last time I came I wish I had them.

Some of our conversations changed the minds of some of the people who were against us. Our leader had a conversation with the owners of a local hotel and cafe. He worked out a deal with the owner to have our group of 35 come before the lunch crowd to eat so they would know that we are only here to love them and share truth. They agreed. Since they only had their daughter, Misty, run the entire store that morning, our leader cooked most of the food on the grill, another one of our elders took the orders, and the only thing she did was scoop ice cream. We even tipped her socks off and she was really supper blessed.

Travels To Utah and Back to Iowa

For the most part the travels went well, and we were always ahead of schedule. On the way out we ran into this tornado forming in the Western part of Nebraska. The video was even better showing debris climbing into the cloud. Even though it was over 500 yards away, the winds were fierce. Found out later this same storm flipped an RV after we passed by it. 

In the end it was a great trip and made alot of headway. We only knew of one conversion from Mormonism to Christianity, but I'm sure the Lord will be working on more. If anyone has doubts about this ministry look at this picture. This was the second night of the pageant and seats are literally empty. The LDS ushers asked if we wanted to come inside and sit on the LDS property as long as we behaved. We are making strides for sure. 

If you have any questions regarding witnessing to Mormons and LDS and you want to know more, please contact me. 

Independence Day Message at the Des Moines Farmers Market: Free Indeed

Posters & Freedom In Jesus Cross Used at the Market

Saturday, June 30th, 2018
Independence Day falls on a Wednesday this year, so Mary and I used this hot & humid Saturday to deliver what has become our annual Patrick Henry "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech, and to discuss what the Lord Jesus Christ says about true freedom - real freedom - that comes when we believe on Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and are delivered from the bondage of sin & the fear of death and Hell.

I took my posters of Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, and the "Freedom In Jesus" cross to share the message, to remind us that the freedoms we enjoy in America were purchased at great risk and great cost by our forefathers. And of course, what God did for us in sending Jesus to deliver us from our sins. I finished up with Jefferson's quote about how he trembled for our country when he remembered how that God is just, and that his justice will not sleep forever.

You can listen to the message by clicking on this LINK.

My Notes - Getting Some Wear & Tear Over The Years!

 Mary gave out all her tracts, and I was able to share everything I had prepared for this annual outreach. I find that I can give out a lot more tracts if I do so before getting up on my box and speaking publicly. When I try to do it after speaking, I don't get as many takers (I wonder why?)

But it was a good day. I don't remember exactly how I got started using the Patrick Henry speech as a springboard for sharing the gospel, I look forward to doing this every year. Kind of like seeing familiar landmarks when traveling: there is a fondness in remembering, and an anticipation leading up to them. Soon it will be the Oktemberfest outreach up here in Marshalltown, and then Thanksgiving evangelism, and Christmas & New Year's ministry. Lord willing, we hope to take every opportunity to share the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, until He comes, or we go to be with Him.


We finished up and stopped by to see our older brother in the Lord, Terry Daniel, who was out sharing with his Jesus poster, as usual. We prayed together for God to bless the tracts, conversations, and the word shared with our neighbors at the Market. Please join us in that prayer for the souls of men & women if you can. If you think of it, pray for us, and also  pray for God to send laborers in His harvest field. Thanks - Paul.