I have never gone to the Sausage Festival until today. I thought it would be nothing more than a bunch of guys and gals at booths selling their grandma's secret summer sausage recipe. But, because there were no other events going on that I knew of, I packed up my gear and headed down to case the place out and hit it hard with the gospel. To my surprise, this was no ordinary Sausage Festival, but the atmosphere was almost like that of a carnival. There were games, booths, a stage with live performers, a beer garden, and most importantly, lots of people.
I started out by using some optical illusion tracts on a group of young people. They were responsive and I was able to give one of them a tract. Then I moved on to a group of young teens, which, as I was approaching, I overheard cussing. I showed them the optical illusion, and they seemed to really like it, so I also offered them some Obama Trillion Dollar Bills, which they absolutely loved, and then I busted out with the giant $100 bills. They were ecstatic. So I became more bold with my approach to the next group, and was having great success. If you haven't had the opportunity to hand out the giant money in the midst of a large group of young people, you are missing out on an experience. It doesn't take long before you are literally being mobbed. They were pulling the tracts off of the stack faster than I could hand them out.
I began moving around the event, handing out tracts to young people and old, and didn't get turned down even once. To be honest, I only had to approach one or two people, because all those young people were doing some free advertising for me. All I had to do was literally stand there with the tracts in hand, and people would come up saying, "there he is!" and ask for the tracts.
Unfortunately, the free advertising backfired, and I was approached by the event coordinators, who politley told me to stop. They said they didn't allow outside advertising, to which I replied that I wasn't advertising anything and offered them a giant money tract to see for themselves. Also, I was not pushing the tracts on people, they were mobbing me for them. They said they knew that, and had read the entire tract, but still wanted me to stop. Even as we were having the discussion, I was being approached by people eagerly looking for the money tracts. As I was leaving the event, I was being constantly bombarded by more and more people, especially young people who wanted tracts, but unfortunately, I had told the event staff that I would stop handing them out. I hate it when people are begging for the tracts but you can't give them one.
The event was being held on private property so there was nothing I could do.
To my shock and horror, I came to find that this event is put on by Christ the King Catholic Church, and is held on their property. I guess it should come as no surprise. On one hand I understand their position, because if Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses showed up at a Calvary Chapel event, I would be one of the first to boot them out. On the other hand it is telling that Catholics, who will claim to be Christian, will stop you from giving out tracts that simply state the gospel with no denominational affiliation. Equally troubling is their willingness to have a beer garden on their property. Some of those people I was witnessing to told me that last night the place was really rocking.
At least I was able to spend about a half-hour there giving out tracts. Something like 100-150 people have the words of everlasting life! Praise the Lord for that! I'll just continue to look for opportunities to share the gospel. Where there is a crowd, there are people.
In the words of fellow evangelist John Speed, "God is at work on the streets... are you?"
See you on the streets!