one on one – Page 7

Day 12 – waiting in line

September 12, 2010 Carl one on one, tract a day

I was waiting in line to use the rest room at a gas station. The guy in front of me had been there awhile when I walked up. He said he’d been waiting for over five minutes already. I said, “did you get one of these” and handed him a “reject the Gospel” tract.

He took the tract and said thanks and immediately began reading it. He read the front and the back. As I was about to ask him what he thought about it, he turned to me and said, “I guess I’ll use the rest room somewhere else down the road.” He put the tract in his pocket and left.

Interestingly, about 30 seconds after he left, the rest room freed up!

Day 11 – tracts

September 11, 2010 Carl one on one, tract distribution

Handed out a number of tracts today. Gave a “Mormon/Muslim” tract to the attendant at the car wash. Then left a tract for the waiter at lunch.

I had to run to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Put tracts in the six packs of beer. Gave tracts to both people in front of me in the check out line.

Sometimes people I’ve talked to indicate they are afraid to give tracts to people in line. I gave the tracts and said, “there is. Gospel message on the back.” You know what happened? Both people said thank you for giving them the tract.

While waiting in line I put tracts in several of the magazines on the end cap. I figured that readers might need a bookmark.
Finally I gave a tract to the cashier!

Day 5 – Classic 50’s

September 6, 2010 Carl one on one, tract a day

I spent most of the day at my mom’s house, so didn’t have a chance to hand out a tract until we stopped at Classic 50’s on the way home to pick up snacks and drinks for the drive.

I gave an Oklahoma Football Trivia tract to the car hop.

Later at a stop for gas, I put a tract in the credit card slot at the gas station, gave one to an employee inside and gave tracts to several of the other customers at the gas station.

Day 4 – OU outreach

September 4, 2010 Carl one on one, tract distribution

Today we drove to Norman, Ok for an outreach at campus corner before the Oklahoma football game.

The morning started off handing out three Dallas Cowboys trivia tracts at a gas station near home.

At the outreach the team handed out about 4000 tracts. Brady and Shane also did some open air preaching.

I had a conversation with an atheist / agnostic. He agreed with the recent hawkin quotes about the universe spontaneously happening from nothing. He readily admitted to breaking five of the ten commandments (all of the ones I asked about) He even swore to a god that he does not believe exists. When I called him on that he wanted to high five. He later agreed it would be better to discuss when he had not been drinking.

I had another good conversation with a college student as I walked to the stadium. He claimed to be a believer and even named Christ as the only way to heaven. However he readily admitted to not following Christ. I encouraged him to surrender his sin to Jesus.

At the stadium while walking to my seat, I was going up the ramps on the east side of the stadium. There must be 15 or so ramps to get up there. Chatting with some of the others that were walking, one guy complained how boring the walk was. So I handed him an OU Football Trivia card. He said, he’d need his glasses. So I offered to read it to him. As we walked we went over each of the questions. Some other people around us also heard the conversation. After question five, about what we all have in common, we discussed Heaven and Hell and I got to share the Law and the Gospel with him. Everyone in the group got a tract!

Day 3 – a curious man

September 3, 2010 Carl one on one, tract a day, tract distribution

I met Todd at the mall for lunch and then we talked to some people and shared the Gospel. Probably had at least a dozen conversations and handed out even more tracts than that. I want to focus on just one conversation.

We were at a kiosk where they sell personal massage units that do deep muscle massage with electric pulses. It is similar to a TENS unit. They put the unit on me and show me how it works. Feels pretty good. But I told them I was not interested.

So I ask one of the guys there, “what do you think happens when you die?” He had no real strong opinions either way and said, “when I die, I’ll let you know.” So I took him to the commandments which he admitted to breaking the fourth, seventh and ninth. But then he said he was not subjected to them because he is not of the tribes. Turns out he is from Israel. But, not religious. I tried to explain that everyone will be subject to the judgment. But he dismissed it.

So I asked to have the massager removed from my back and turned to Todd so that we could leave. When I did, he got very interested in what we were talking about. He started asking “what kind of Christian are you” and “where do you go to church?” We explained that there is only one universal church of which Christ is the head. We asked him to read the Bible, starting with Matthew and he said he would check it out.

It was very interesting, that the conversation was seemingly going no where until I excused myself, then he got very interested. I pray that he will read Matthew, then the New Testament. But, above all, I pray that God will save him.

Day 2 – Spanish Tracts

September 2, 2010 Carl one on one, tract a day

I actually thought that I was out of Spanish tracts, but then the other day I had found some in my bag. Today we had our First Thursday Day of Prayer at City Hall in Carrollton, TX. Afterward we were going to eat at a Mexican restaurant, so I brought the Spanish tracts along.

As the prayer meeting ended, we noticed a Hispanic man, a city worker, standing nearby. I went over to him. He started apologizing because apparently he had made some noise while we were praying. I actually had not heard anything. Todd and I shared the Gospel with him and gave him one of the Spanish tracts. He had a church background but was unsaved, by our understanding of what he told us. His partner came while we were talking to him and we gave him a tract too.

At the Mexican restaurant I gave Spanish tracts to the owner and also the gal serving the food. Todd has been frequenting this restaurant for years. So he had already witnessed to the people working there. When we were leaving the restaurant, I gave a Bucket List tract to one of the other customers there.

Day 2 down – five tracts handed out. And we have a trip to the store coming up after dinner, so who knows how many more tracts might go out today!

RaceTrac

August 7, 2010 Carl one on one, tract distribution

There is a gas station chain here near my house called RaceTrac. This summer they offered a promotion where you by a reusable cup and get free refill for until a certain date. We stop by whenever we pass near one of these stations to get something to drink.

It seems a little weird to use this cup because you can actually just walk in, fill your cup and then leave. You don’t even have to go to the cashier to check out.

What I have started doing is going to the register or any employee and saying, “you gave me something free now I must give you something free too.”

I hand them a gospel tract and briefly explain what it is pointing them to the message on the back. Sometimes it leads to a deeper discussuon. Otherwise not. That’s ok. The purpose is to honor God and share the Gospel.

Every time I’ve tried this the person receiving the tract says “thanks”

Perhaps you have a RaceTrac nearby or some other place doing the same thing. Even if not you can do the same kind of thing even when buy a drink.

Donald

July 10, 2010 Carl one on one

As many of you may know, I have decided to run a marathon. In the midst, Iam currently training for a half marathon on August 15th. So today, I was scheduled to run 10 miles. I picked a trail around Town Lake in Austin. Now, many of you may also know that I am not in particularly fit shape. So running does not come easily. Not like when I was in high school and could crank out 10-15 miles a day with no problem.

So, I found myself walking … a lot!

At one point as I was walking, a man called out to me. I did not really hear what he said at first because my iPod was blasting in my ears. But, I took of my head phones and went over to him. I knew my time was ticking on the stop watch that I had left in the car, but it really seemed like God would have me talk to this man instead.

Now, I don’t have any water (sweat) proof tracts so when I run, I don’t have anything to hand out. But, I’m always armed with God’s word. As I approached the man, it was as if he was invisible. There were probably a hundred people passing by per hour. Most did not even seem to see him sitting by the tree. Honestly, I can’t recall if I actually saw him before he called out to me.

I noticed that he had not had a shower or his clothes washed. He was wearing a shirt that had a SQL statement on it “select * from users where clue > 0 … returns 0 rows” and he had a cross necklace. I decided to ask about the cross first. “Does that cross mean anything to you?” He explained that he believes in God and Jesus. He then explained and showed me that he had prayer rocks and other things. I am not the judge of this mans faith. But, he did agree when I told him that the thing that is important about a church is whether it preaches Christ, and Him crucified. I elaborated and talked about sin, righteousness, judgment, God’s wrath and the perfect payment through Jesus and a mans need to repent and trust Christ.

He agreed.

So I offered to pray for him. He said ok. I gave him a hug and prayed for him. I think our 20-30 minutes together was an encouragement to us both.

Before I meet Donald, I was thinking of giving up on my plan to run a marathon. But, as I was running on from there, I was thinking if he can get through today because of the hope of Jesus, then I can also get through a run, a marathon, life through the same hope in Jesus!

Walmart

July 6, 2010 Carl one on one, tract distribution

I went to Walmart today to pick up a few items. So with tracts in hand, I entered the store. Near the front of the store, a man was riding in one of those electric carts provided for assistance. I noticed the charging cord was dragging behind the cart. I bent over and picked up the cord and attached it to the back of his seat. He said thanks. I handed him a tract and said, “this is for you.” He looked at me with a look on wonder. So I said, “it a Gospel tract.” He said thanks.

One tract down!

As I told the man it was a gospel tract, I heard a woman standing nearby say, “I want one.” So I gave her a tract too.

Two tracts down.

Moving on from there, I walked past where a there is a bank inside of the Walmart. The two people standing there were giving out a little information on the bank. I declined to open an account, but since they had given me something (a piece of paper with info and a piece of candy), I told them it is only right that I give them something in return. So I gave them each Gospel tracts. I tried to engage them in conversation, but they would not have anything to do with it since they were working.

Three Four tracts down.

Walking around the store, I was unable to find the bagels. Finally, I asked someone who worked there. She pointed in the direction where the bagels are stored. I said thanks and handed her a tract.

Five tracts down.

I walked down the soda aisle and put a few tracts into the soda boxes. You do know that that little slot on the 12 packs was put there to put tracts into, right?!?

Six Ten tracts down!

After checking out, I gave a tract to the cashier.

Eleven tracts distributed in just a few minutes. You can do this too!

Day 10 – Post Office

March 10, 2010 Carl one on one, tract distribution

I had to go to the post office to mail some tracts to new tract club members. Since I had a nunber of envelopes that were all the same, the clerk asked me what I was mailing.

Wow! What a great segway to the Gospel.

So I said, “gospel tracts!” and reached in my pocket and handed her an Are You Lucky tract. She immediately read the front and then turned it over. Realizing there was a lot to read she set it aside and said she would check it out after work.

Now I realize that unless you were mailing multiple envelopes of tracts, the exact scenario might not apply. However, with any number of questions in a short dialog with the clerk you too could leave a tract with the postal clerk.

On a side note, at the post office, they ask if the packages contain anything fragile or harmful. I could say something like, “no, contents may prevent eternal death” or “no, contents promote life!”