This weekend at our church we had an awesome
answer to prayer. We had a big evangelism outreach
called "Pack a Pew" Sunday. It was
pretty much a misnomer since it covered the
whole weekend. On Saturday we had a carnival
on the church property for the bus kids and
all the kids in the neighborhood – several
hundred children and parents showed up to play
games, jump in the moon bounce, pet animals
in the petting zoo and ride the ponies. Then,
on Sunday, we did "pack the pews".
We crammed 654 people into our auditorium (we
usually seat about 450) – 15 of them
accepted Christ as their Savior at the end
of the service.
At the carnival we set up three different
evangelism venues. In order for the people
to get tickets to the pony ride, the moon bounce
or (even) to get a hot dog they had to stop
by one of these and listen to a gospel presentation.
We had a street evangelist that did chalk art,
we had a puppet show and (the one I helped
with) the colored beads we received from Christian
Farmers Outreach. We used colored beads (gold
for heaven, dark for sin, red for the blood
of Christ, white for sins forgiven, green for
Christian growth) to present the gospel. In
all, over 150 people prayed on Saturday to
ask Christ to save them.
In particular, I remember one young lady (a
teenager) that I led to Christ. At the booth
with the beads we set up several little stations
with one chair facing three or four other
chairs. Then, when people came in to listen
to the
gospel, one soul winner could talk to as
many as four people at a time. This particular
time
two people came in to sit down – an
older (grandmotherish) black lady and a teenaged
girl (not related to each other). It turned
out (though I didn't know it at the time)
that
the older lady (Mrs. Jones) was the mother
of one of the woman that my wife goes soul
winning with. She knew who I was but I'm
embarrassed to say I didn't know her.
Anyway, I started off by asking them how they
liked the carnival and were they having fun.
Then I told them that I always like to ask
a question before I talk about the story of
the beads. I asked them if they were 100% sure
that, if they should die, they would go to
heaven. Mrs. Jones said definitely and the
teenage girl said that, actually, she wasn't
sure. I then asked Mrs. Jones if she was standing
at the gates of heaven and God asked her why
He should let her into His kingdom, what she
would say. She gave me her testimony and told
me how she had accepted Jesus as her Savior
at a young age.
I then asked the young lady if she would like
to have that kind of confidence. She said yes
and I was able to show her the Romans' Road
through the beads and lead her to Christ.
" Know
the love of Christ, that you may be filled to the measure 
