How did you get started
Soul Winning at Fairs,
Festivals and so on?
Stock Show
Booth,
Victoria, TX
Community Center
March
8-11, 1979
Table of Contents
1. First Year
2. First Encouragement
3. First Experience
4. First Day
5. First Convert
6. First of Many
7. Some Testimonies
First Year
About 1 year previously, almost to
the day, we were at the Stock Show and noticed local churches had
display booths. They were not manned, but all had lots of
brochures and possibly tracts. We wondered, since our church
was 18 miles outside of town, wouldn't it be a good idea to have a
booth of our own?
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First
Encouragement
Pastor Pierce strongly encouraged
us to get the booth for 1979. Another man in the church,
Delmar Elliot, got with us and we bought 30,000 Chick Tracts for the
event.
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First
Experience
We both had won our first souls, 2 weeks before the Stock Show
began. We were approaching the show as an opportunity to
distribute tracts. But, our method was to lay them on the
table and let passer-bys pick through them.
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First Day
The Stock Show was to begin at 6pm
on Thursday so we arrived that morning about 11:30 to set up the
sign and organize the booth. While arranging things, kids from Stroman High School started filtering in. Of course they were
after the tracts because of the picture stories inside.
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First
Convert
It was during this time that a 10
year old boy (back then you could talk to junior age children
without alarming the public) named Robert came up to us and asked if
the book he had read was true or just a fable. He was
traveling with the carnival and was our very first prospect. Pat
witnessed to him. She seated him behind the table with us and
began to tell the old, old story.
When she told him about Jesus and
how much He loved him, his eyes became watery and a few tears rolled
down his cheeks. He prayed and asked to be
saved.
During the witness, Robert asked
if this was the same man that rode the donkey into town.
Someone had told him at one time or another about Jesus and this was
what he had remembered. We continued talking when his sister
and 2 friends came up to us and asked him what was he doing behind
the table. Robert told them he was "Getting
saved." All
3 said they wanted that, too. Pat told all 3 the same story.
They prayed. One of the girls asked if she could go get her
mother to hear about salvation. Then another asked, too.
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First
of Many
After this we took turns telling
people how to be
saved until about 1:30. There were people
standing in line waiting to hear.
The Lord showed us what needed to
be done through a 10 year old boy, with the carnival.
Pat later wrote, "I went to the
Stock Show with the intention of passing out tracts. The Lord
opened the doors and hearts to many people to accept Him or reject
Him. This went on for 4 days straight. I worked from 1
to 6 on Friday and it was the same thing! People were asking
to be
saved. I would say a good percentage were between the
ages of 10-20. I talked to more teenage boys than girls."
We are certain that more than 150
made professions of faith an over 9500 tracts were distributed.
We had gone to put tracts into
circulation, but God had other ideas for willing hearts.
That next Monday we both agreed
that we could not wait until the next Stock Show to do all this
again, so we began searching for other events.
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Some
Testimonies recorded by Pat lest we forget
Episcopalian Man
This was a large man about 50 years of age. I asked him, did
he know if he died right now, would he go to heaven. He
immediately said yes, but only the Episcopalian Way. I never
asked him how was that. He said he was a deacon in the church,
went to church all the time, was good, taught Sunday School, etc.
I then told him that is not what the Bible said. He said, "Ok,
how do you get there." He never finished listening to me,
He turned and walked off.
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3 Teenage Girls
One was Anglo, another Mexican and the last was Afro-American.
I told them the plan of salvation and all 3 prayed and asked to be
saved. God showed me He saves all races who will just open
their hearts.
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Honest Youth on Sin
This as a Spanish boy about 13 or 14. I started talking to him
about sin. The boy misunderstood me and though I had said
"Sing". I told him no, like lying, cheating, stealing, etc.
I then told him I wasn't accusing him of stealing and immediately he
said, yes, he had done that, also. He just wanted to make sure all
of sins were out in the open. He prayed and got
saved.
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3 Catholic Boys
These boys were about 12-13. I asked them if they knew how to
get to heaven. They all said no, but wanted to know.
After hearing and being shown the scriptures in the Bible, all 3
prayed and asked Jesus to
save them. One of them, John,
extended his hand and really thanked me for telling him. The
next day I saw John again, passing by the booth. I asked him
if he still knew he was going to heaven. He looked down with a
sad expression on his face and said, "Well, I guess so." I
knew at once why he was so sullen. His family was behind him
and his little sister was reaching for our material. The
mother jerked her and told her to leave that stuff alone and stay
away from our table. John had probably shared what he had done
and his mother had set him straight.
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Brother and Sister
I was working with Vi E. A 17 year old boy, named Bill N.,
came by the
booth. Vi witnessed to him and he accepted Jesus.
It was about 30 minutes later his sister came by and I asked her if
she wanted to be
saved. She also prayed and accepted Jesus.
Afterwards, I told her that her brother, Bill, had accepted Jesus,
just like she did. She just couldn't believe it. That
Mom and Dad may never realize the shower of blessings God gave to
them on that particular day.
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Pat and Bud S.
On Sunday, Steve, Vi, Christine and I were working the
booth.
2 brothers approached our table. I asked Pat if he knew Jesus
Christ as his Saviour. He said he sure did, but he didn't do
it in a very nice place. Christine asked where did he get
saved. Pat said, a jail cell. We told him it didn't make any
difference where he did it, as long as he did it and meant it.
Pat told us that he was looking for a church. I invited him to
ours and h asked if we would write down the times. Steve did
that and mentioned that there were services tonight. He said
he would like to come. Steve explained we were going to have a
special service that night. People would be sharing
testimonies about the last 4 days during the Stock Show. Pat
asked if he could share his testimony, too. Meanwhile Steve
was witnessing to Bud. He just couldn't understand and did not
ask to be
saved. That night services were about over when Pat
and Bud walked in. In fact I was sharing my own testimony,
when I looked up and saw them. Pat explained that they couldn't find
their way. He then told us he had been on drugs and was
stealing to support his habit. That's why he had been put in
jail. He told us a man named Wayne Marshall (the same who was
instrumental in me being
saved) had told him about Jesus and
salvation. At the end of the service, Bud accepted Christ as
his Saviour. Praise God!
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G. Steven Andres
Psalms 45:17
Missionary Evangelist
Copyright - 1996 to 2010 |
