Finally back after two seasons that were cancelled, we were finally back with our annual season opener. Of course evangelism is always open season here in Des Moines, but we like to celebrate and stretch out our witnessing muscles on events like the St. Paddy’s Day parade.
We started the day off meeting at Calvary Chapel Des Moines for prayer, direction, and a time of evangelism training with Eddie Roman, Producer/director of Way of the Master television program, on Zoom. It was a great teaching for those who have never shared their faith, and also a good refresher for us veterans too.
A few weeks before we were worried that we didn’t have enough tracts, but as you can see, the Lord provides. After training we carpooled up to the parade. It wasn’t as busy as it normally was, and I was actually surprised that there were less people even with the chance of rain. Most of us, including me, didn’t have the conversations we were hoping for, but then again with all the people we had only a small window to hand out as many tracts as possible with the amount of workers we had.
There were a few times that I was able to give out Lucky Bucks from Tract Planet. I like tracts from Tract Planet because they have a QR code on the back that people can scan with their smartphone and takes them to http://www.thegoodtest.net — a YouTube video that shares the entire gospel at their convenience. It is perfect when I am running out of time, it takes me less than 15 seconds to explain the code and where it points too. People were very receptive this year and I only had 2 people reject taking anything or talking to me.
The coolest thing that happened during the outreach was at one point we were handing out tracts and the people already had them. None of us were in the area yet and thought it was odd. Then I heard my name and looked down and it was Mike Demastus, Pastor of Fort Des Moines Church of Christ tying his shoe with our same tracts in his hands. I introduced him to Jon and Peg, and had a nice chat before going back at it. Seeing other churches and especially Pastors sharing the gospel really warms my heart.
When we got done around 1pm, we headed to Hy-Vee on Court Avenue for lunch and talk about our experiences. Peg, one of the ladies from my church, said she had a great time, and wants to come out with us again in the future. This was a great start to a great year and encouraged us to keep going.
Pens & Wrenches 
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