For more than 20 years the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship has been renting a vendor booth at the State Fair of Texas and staffing it with Gospel Presenters open to close for all 24 days of the fair. You can learn more about the FGBMF State Fair of Texas Outreach online. As the saying goes “everything is bigger in Texas” and the State Fair is no exception, being known as the largest state fair in the country drawing over 3.5 million people per year.
Since 2012, Bezeugen has been staffing the booth for either a shift or an entire day during the fair. This was our 11th year to participate. Steve, Scott, Scott’s son, my wife and I had a nice evening of fellowship on Friday night. Saturday morning we ate some breakfast and Steve shared a word from the Lord with us before we headed to the fair. One thing he said that stuck with me all day was that we prayed that we could be “a pebble in the shoe” of those we talked to.
We had a team of 8 working the booth Saturday, October 22nd, from 10AM to 4PM. Steve and I arrived at the booth at 9:30. Robert, the Assistant Project Manager for the outreach, was there organizing some materials. We reviewed some updated procedures with him, prayed, and then opened the booth at 10AM just as Scott and his son arrived.
Within a couple of minutes of handing out tracts, Scott, Steve, and I were all involved in three separate gospel presentations. Robert would later tell me how he was amazed to see that all three of us were immediately engaged in conversations so quickly. For six hours we handed out tracts and there was generally at least one gospel conversation taking place the entire time.
We brought 1500 Million Dollar Bill Gospel tracts along with another few hundred Spanish bill style tracts. All of these Million Dollar Bill tracts were distributed. In addition we brought about 4000 business card sized Gospel Tracts. I estimate about a third of those were distributed. So our team of 8 people probably got the Gospel into the hands of 3000 people in six hours. Only God knows the impact on eternity this will have.
In a sense this years outreach was a lot like the previous 10 I have participated in. We start with the same question “Would you trade your eye for one million dollars?”. I’ll never forget one man said, “yes”, reached up to his face, and took out a glass eye and held it out to me. Obviously, I was pretty shocked. In the years of doing this, I’ve had people offer because they were blind in one eye. But never have I had someone hand me their glass eye. We had a good laugh and it turned out he, his wife and daughter were all strong in their Christian faith. Regardless of the answer (yes or no) it is an opportunity to transition the conversation to the Gospel. By explaining that the eyes are the window to the soul, if they had put a high price on eyes, their soul is worth even more, probably priceless.
I had conversations ranging from people who said they knew they would go to Heaven, hoped they would go to Heaven, didn’t know if they would go to Heaven, didn’t care if they would go to Heaven, and even some who admitted they would go to Hell. The two extremes are easier conversations. On the one hand, the folks who said they are going to Heaven, when I asked why said because they had faith in Jesus Christ alone to save them. Bingo! The only right answer.
The ones that said they were going to Hell was sad because of the destination they are on. I explained to them that Hell is the default for every person “unless you are born again”. In between I spoke with a woman and her two daughters. She like most, declared her own goodness by works she has done. All in their own right are great, but they won’t earn her an eternity in Heaven. I explained to her that works need to flow out of faith in Christ. She claimed to be a Christian and I could see some tears under her dark sunglasses. But when I asked if she was okay she just said yes and didn’t expand on it.
Like the Biblical Gospel accounts, each presents Jesus life from their perspective. The same message from a different angle so to speak. In a similar way, each of the 8 of us had different experiences throughout the day. Hence, It’s best to hear from the others directly.
The following comments from Steve is excerpted from his Stone the Preacher BLOG article titled The Starfish.
A sad testimony was from a young man busted for seven felonies because he was arrested for transporting seven cakes of THC. He said his life was over because he was facing life…just like every one of his family had previously, generation after generation. His hard life began at age three, when he had every bone in his body broken by abusive parents.
One of my fellow Christians called me over to help give him the good news of Jesus, but I asked him to tell his own story. He did, explaining that he was out on parole and had been in and out of prison for years. Before that, he never lived anywhere else except other people’s couches. But he found Christ, turned his life around, and now goes into many different hardcore penitentiaries, preaching the Gospel. Every time he asked his parole officer for permission
to do so, the official would shake his head and say that there was no way. Then he’d come back a while later and ask for a letter of recommendation because the warden would approve his entry. Time and again, he was allowed in, completely befuddling his parole supervisor. Now married, in May 2023, he will be totally free. As he told his testimony, all the glory was given to Christ, his Savior.After listening to this incredible account of God’s faithfulness, I asked the young man if he would like to make the choice to live a different life by repenting and trusting Christ. He declined. When I asked if I could pray for him, he said no once again, turned around and left.
Scott writes:
I am always encouraged every time I come to the outreach. I have been coming since 2013. This year I was able to meet Steve Sanchez. I joined the Bezeugen Tract Club through his evangelism blog which is how I met Carl and that brought me to the State Fair Of Texas Gospel Outreach! I am thankful for every opportunity to share the gospel. We had many people come take the Million Dollar Eye Test . Seeds were sown once again. One highlight was my conversation with Mary. She said that her neighbors had been witnessing to her. She is ripe for the harvest! I look forward to coming next year!
Paige wrote:
This year seemed very different to me. The fair goers seemed uninterested in taking a bible tract or even when a silver coin was tossed at the feet of a child, there was a hesitation to pick up the shiny silver coin. I witnessed to 3 people and 2 of them were already born again Christ followers. The 3rd was different. She was 9 years old and was wearing a coat on a 90° day. She would often give me a blank stare when I would ask her a question. I shared the gospel with her and she was indifferent about the good news. Her name was Remy and I am keeping her in my prayers.
Below are some more pictures from the event.
