This day was full of both good and bad. To get the worst out of the way, I want to say that I did not get to share the Gospel with anyone because I got sick. I had a massive sinus headache and was very nauseous throughout the couple of hours we were out there, and Zach and I actually had to leave early. At first, I was super upset because I couldn’t stay longer, but I know that the Lord does these things for His purposes. Despite my being sick, I was so encouraged for such a myriad of reasons.
The biggest was that the youth at my church came with us to pass out tracts and share the Gospel! Another family, the Migneults, also came. This is the first time that our church has done evangelism somewhat corporately, and it was such a blessing to be a part of it. I am so thankful to the Lord that He has put us in a local body where members have a zeal to share the Gospel. Before we went out to the boardwalk, Zach and I held a small class for the five youth that came to explain why we evangelize and what it entails. Just to let you all know, for 1 Timothy 3 reasons, Zach went through all of the biblical passages we associated with evangelism and I only talked about the practical applications 😉
We went through a handout we made that is loosely based on Ray Comfort’s The Way of the Master method. It was so encouraging to see them put it in practice and boldly pass out tracts, especially since I have not always had positive responses when trying to convince members of our old church to come out with us.
When we got out to the boardwalk, we all stood out on 21st and 22nd street and began to pass out tracts. The youth brought Faith is for Weak People tracts , which are ones that I had never seen before. I thought they were particularly helpful, because they garnered a lot of reactions from both professing Christians and unbelievers. Believers would see the title of the booklet and get a little upset, and then as they went on reading they would smile or say thank you. As you can imagine, with unbelievers it was the opposite.
The Zach and the youth were so bold in passing out gospel tracts, and Zach tried to initiate four or five conversations! This was especially amazing to watch as he led the youth by example. Unfortunately, he never got to present the Gospel. Most people said their opinion and started to walk away after he asked them what they believed happens when someone dies. As I have said before, unbelievers are hostile, even if it is passive, to the Gospel. It makes sense for them to want to shut a conversation about the One, True God down because of John 3:20. This is something that we talked about at length with the youth.
Something I also noticed this day was that people were much more openly hostile too. The fact that young believers were sharing their faith seemed to be the catalyst. One older woman rebuked Zach in passing for allowing one of the fourteen year old boys to pass her a Gospel tract. Another man rebuked one of the seventeen year old boys for handing him a Million Dollar Bill tract! Although this is so, so sad to see, it is a good reminder of how sweet the Gospel is. Those whom the Lord saves were no better than those who hate seeing people share His Gospel. Romans 4:7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;” comes to mind.
In addition to all of this, Galal, Sean, Patrick, and Rachel also were at the boardwalk sharing the Gospel. I am not sure how their conversations went, but I know God was glorified in their fulfilling the Great Commission.
Overall, this day was incredible, and I pray for more days where members of our church can come out with us. Although no one was saved on this day (that we know of, at least), I think of Matthew 13 and our role in the parable. The believer’s role is to only sow the seed, and the Lord does the growing. Please pray for everyone we passed out tracts to ( I am estimating around 250). Pray they would repent and believe, and that the Lord would place them in biblical churches. Pray that these churches would produce willing laborers who would share the Gospel (Luke 10:2). Pray for Zach and I, and that we could share the Gospel with those in our life and glorify the Lord with our marriage.
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