An update, and totals from the Fair...

This has been a quiet week for me. I came down with a cold following the Fair (I was drained physically and not surprised that I caught something!) and have been resting.

I was excited to be able to share the gospel with a customer service rep on the phone last week. We had ordered a product for our business, but then were called and told the order was on “verification hold” until I called back in to authorize the order. I called in and authorized the order (took 10 minutes on hold, and then 1 minute of talking), and then spent about 10-15 minutes sharing the gospel with a lady who admitted she was headed for hell, but claimed to be a Christian, and also wanted to run her life as it is. I shared with much compassion and gentleness, but was also very direct with her, to the point of telling her she was defaming the name of Christ by claiming to be a Christian while choosing to run her own life. At the end of the call, I could tell she was under heavy conviction. I said I hoped I hadn’t ruined her day, but that it was something she needed to deal with, and she said it was absolutely the case and she thanked me for sharing.

Meg asked about totals from the Fair. I just talked with my brother this evening and have some updated totals. I don’t have a problem sharing specifics since this is an anonymous blog :-) and even if I had underwritten the entire project (which I didn’t), the Lord would get the credit for it anyways – not a person… If this is a help to you in considering such a project – it’s worth it to share it.

Booth at the Fair: $150
8x3 vinyl banner: $80
3,100 soda’s/waters: $775
(the prices varied, but the average price per drink, with tax, was probably right at $.25)
1,000 balloons: $60
4,000 tracts: $350
42 x 20 pound bags of ice: $150
Coolers: borrowed from believers
10 x 10 canopy: borrowed from a church

Total: about $1,500

(there were other expenses, like overnight freight for some tracts because we thought we were running low, but the above represents the major expenses)

Even though we are one family, there are a number of us that are working to support families, so everyone contributed to the project. There were also several other brothers in Christ that wanted to participate financially in the project (one even let us use his pickup truck for the week for transporting coolers – and that was a huge blessing).

While no one surrendered their life to the Lord while we were talking with them at the Fair, there were quite a few who were under heavy conviction and said they were going to get right with God. We don’t push people to “say a prayer” on the spot – if we had simply pushed for that we would have had a number that were willing to say a prayer to get their “ticket to heaven”. However, we were encouraging people to repent of their sins, believe in Jesus, and give Him control of their lives – and that’s a serious thing for a person to do!

I wonder how many people are reading this blog and perhaps haven’t even given full control of their life to the Lord. I had been “saved” for a number of years before I finally gave control of every area of my life to the Lord. In looking back I can’t even say for sure when I was saved. Was it when I prayed, or when I was finally willing to yield everything to Him?

Meg also asked about tracts, their history, and their effectiveness. I’ll likely be posting about that in a few days…