This year went very well for the IowaGO! booth at the Iowa State Fair. Many of us had great conversations with those who entered, and felt engaged with those who visited with the booth.
This year we had many new evangelists. Very proud of the four from my fellowship that attended for the first time. It was a great treat to see Christians grow in their faith as they stepped forward and get out of their comfort zone to share the gospel with those who came into the booth.
My wife Lisa, who never had the desire to volunteer at the booth before, wanted to step out of her comfort zone and not only work the booth, but help with the teardown of the booth and ark. She really enjoyed the fellowship along with meeting those whom I’ve talked about through the years. For her, it was nice to put faces to the names I’ve talked about.
My friend Nik, has been anxious about getting his feet wet sharing the gospel. He attended my Tactics in Defending the Faith seminar earlier this year along with Peg and my wife. He got the bug and wanted to step out of his comfort zone in sharing his faith. Boy, did he.
His first conversation was with a homosexual man who said he was a Christian and forgiven of his sin. When we pressed him as to how God does that, he told us that basically it is not sin anymore — Jesus makes it holy. We should have responded by reading Romans 6 to him, but we were so taken back by his response the conversation ended soon after that. The positive side is that Nik was more emboldened to share Christ again, and this didn’t sway him at all.
Even though Peg and Ethan didn’t have many conversations at the booth the days they worked, they were used by the Lord to pass out tracts and share the gospel to kids while putting tattoos on them.
It was great to watch Peg take some swings using her Columbo Questions: “What do you mean by that?” And, “How did you come to that conclusion?” The only problem is that people for some reason that day didn’t want to engage in discussion. But that’s ok. Like Greg Kokul says in Tactics in Defending the Faith, “You don’t have to hit home runs,. You don’t even have to get on base. Sometimes just getting up to bat will do.”
Ethan joined me for a conversation with a gentleman running the Catholic Radio tent. It was more of a learning experience for him. We came to some conclusions when the conversation was over:
- The Bible was never used when defending Catholic doctrine. Honestly, the Bible wasn’t seen at all in the booth.
- The Catechism of the Catholic Church wasn’t read out of either when defending positions of doctrine.
- He said phrases like, “I think..,” “I hope…” or “To me, it means…” much of the conversation without any difinitive answer to my questions.
If I can sumize one thing about this year that I really enjoyed, it was the fellowship with my like-minded friends, serving the Lord together and having fun. It was great to walk around the fair with Brandon and catch a horse show. And I can’t forget getting slap-happy and exhausted at the end of the night as his wife, Ashley and I practiced our Austrailian accents. That’s so important. I have been on short term missions before where it is all seriousness. Yes, the sharing the gospel is serious business and stressful on it’s own. But when you joke around, without making light of the situation, it makes time fly and people relax and comfortable doing an uncomfortable thing. It doesn’t have to be hard, or stressful. It can actually be fun.
Pens & Wrenches 
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