A Gospel of John and Wal-Mart

(I was going to post about gospel tracts next – but was excited about this and wanted to share it)

While getting ready to run some errands at Wal-Mart, I was “loading my pockets”: wallet, cell phone (clips on belt), breath mints, keys – and my pocket New Testament. Instead of the New Testament, though, I decided to get a Gospel of John and a million dollar bill to go with it. I hadn’t ever given out a Gospel of John as a tract before, and thought I would give it a try.

When I was ready to check out at Wal-Mart, the lane I ended up in had a middle-aged woman with a crew-cut hairstyle running the register. I thought, “There is no way she’ll be receptive to a tract, and DEFINITELY not a Gospel of John.” Whenever I am giving out a million dollar bill tract at a store while I’m paying for merchandise, I always make sure I get the tract out AFTER I’m done paying. This time, while I was signing the credit card slip, I asked the checker if I had ever given her a million dollar bill before. She said no – but expressed interest in getting one. I asked if she liked to read – and she said she loves to read. I said that was great, because I had a Gospel of John in my pocket that had a million dollar bill in it. I pulled the Gospel out and gave it to her. She was happy to receive it – and thanked me for it! She had a huge smile and was starting to look through it right then (and there were several people waiting in line!).

I was amazed at her reception – when I had already convinced myself that she would reject the Gospel.

And yet, in thinking back to the outing, I missed several opportunities to hand out other tracts because I didn’t have enough in my pockets. I had had a key copied at Wal-Mart, and was helped by a very friendly older gentleman back in the automotive section. In addition, the lady that had been helping a long line of automotive customers had just finished with everyone in the line right as the man was finishing making the keys – I could have easily shared some gospel tracts with both of them.

For anyone else that is interested in some Gospel of John’s (www.pocketpower.org) – I got mine from the Pocket Testament League. They have a number of different Gospels of Johns; although I didn’t care for a number of the various covers (one was a lighthouse, and made me think of a certain cult that hands out religious “literature” to people). I had found a plainer cover that shows loaves of bread and is titled “Bread of Life.” They send out the gospels for free, but ask for a donation to cover their shipping costs, and obviously they appreciate donations to cover the printing costs as well. I had ordered Gospels to have at the Fair about a month ago. I put in an order for 60, and the fulfillment costs were $12 (which translated to $.20 per gospel); I donated an additional $12 to cover the cost of the printing, so my total cost per gospel was $.40.

If you decide to join the Pocket Testament League, please put my “member” number (224553) in when you sign up. Supposedly, there is a way that you can see how many gospels you’ve given away on the site, and if other people join using your referral number, you can see how many THEY have given away. It sounds like an exciting way to witness “multiplication” (much like the claims that multi-level marketing makes – but without the cost, and with the benefit of the gospel being shared!!).

The Pocket Testament League strongly encourages their members to order 30 gospels a month and then give one away per day. They also have an Evangelism Boot camp that is available through e-mail and is something I’ll probably sign up for.