Recap: Ankeny Summerfest Outreach 2023

This was my first time in a while sharing Jesus at Ankeny Summerfest. Last year I was unable to take part in it due to my father’s illness, and in previous years because of the event being cancelled due to the pandemic. It was a real treat to be here. Not only that, but this was the first time in the new Prairie Ridge District area that I got to experience.

The parade

I decided to walk to the parade and take tracts with me to pass out to people on the side of the streets watching. It went well. I partnered with Jon Neifert of Tulip Gospel Outreach before the rest of the team got there and decided to hit the very beginning of the parade route on both sides. I walked in the street while Jon walked the sidewalk. By the end of our time there, we were able to give out over 250 gospel tracts each. By the time we finished the beginnign shorter side, Tony, Shawn, Cindy and Tom were there to meet us and continue the distribution.

The fair

Later in the evening Lisa and I walked back to The District to share the gospel with those at the fair. Bands were playing music, rides were in motion, and there were people everywhere, especially teens and twenty-somethings. Being we are both introverts it was a little overwhelming for both of us, and difficult to concentrate on all that was going on. I passed out several tracts on the inside of the fair, but it was very distracting for those to pay attention to us and they seemed to all have a place to be.

My wife suggested we go outside of the festival and catch people coming. Again, we were not able to get into conversation. We were a little discouraged, so we just decided to call it a night and walk home.

A good cast

At the edge of The District, we were almost to the main road and six teenage boys were walking towards us. Without hesitation I decided to launch myself in their path and give it one more try before leaving. I was so glad I did. I handed them each a million-dollar bill and asked them if they knew what the million-dollar question was: “If they were good enough to go to heaven.” They all looked at each other and really didn’t know what to say. None of them had ever been presented the gospel like this, and most of them said they went to church.

Isaiah, the kid to my left said that he hasn’t been to church for a while. I asked if he just hasn’t gotten around to it. He said, “Yeah, probably.” So, I gave him a Living Waters Round Tuit and said, “Now you have one!” He didn’t understand it at first, and then one of his friends laughed and explained it to him. He smiled and kept it.

At the end of sharing the good and bad news with these teens, Isaiah stayed behind, shook my hand and thanked us for spending the time with him and his friends to share this important news with them. He said he was definitely going to look into it further and look at the videos on the front of the bill.

By the time we got home my feet were covered in bruises. I couldn’t believe all the walking I did: over 11 miles and almost 27,000 steps. I was spent, but so worth it. When Lisa and I walked back from our night we did not find one tract on the ground! Praise God. Pray that those who took tracts will respond to the call and give their lives to Christ.