Are Gospel Tracts Effective?

Through the Bezeugen Tract Club, thousands of Gospel tracts are distributed per month. Some people have asked whether those tracts are actually effective. Over the years we’ve heard a number of stories about people being saved by Gospel tracts. Some of those stories are:

• The guy saved by a Gospel tract he found in an outhouse
• A friend who came to Christ from a tract
• A man who shared the Gospel regularly for years with many coming to Christ.
• A man in the West End came to Christ on the DART train while reading a Gospel tract.

Today, however, I’d like to share a first hand experience of leading a couple of kids to Christ from tracts. A few years ago we started putting our web site on all the tracts that we hand out. Then last year we started putting a phone number (80-BEZEUGEN)  on many of the tracts. We invite people to call or contact us through the web site for more information.

On Thursday evening I had a call from someone who found the tract I had left on a table at a nearby restaurant. The kid was really concerned that the card did not turn green to indicate that he was a good person. I explained that God’s standard of goodness is the Ten Commandments. Then I asked if he had every lied. He said yes and said that makes him a liar. I told him that according to Revelation 21:8 that he and all liars would go to Hell for all eternity. At that there were tears in his voice saying that he did not want to go to Hell. I explained that Jesus had paid for his sin. The kid even quoted John 3:16 to me. I asked him what was keeping him from turning from his sin and putting his trust in Jesus. He said “nothing”. Suddenly he said “oh, I get it now”. The tears in his voice were gone!

The next day, I was home sick, eating dinner and watching a movie with my wife. The phone rang and I let it go to voice mail. It rang again and then a third time. Finally, my wife said, perhaps you should answer it. So I picked up the call. It was another kid who had found one of our new “are you a good person” tracts and was asking similar questions about why the tract did not turn green when he pressed his thumb on the little man. He said that he went to church but when I took him through the good test he failed and said he would go to Hell when he died. I explained to him that he can not earn favor with God on his own. And that salvation was only possible by repenting of his sin and putting his trust in Jesus Christ alone. He said he understood. At the end of the call I asked him what he was going to do. He said, “go to my room and repent!”

WOW!

Two days in a row, without even leaving home, the Lord allowed me to experience two kids being born again! Praise God!

Now to make it even more amazing… On Monday evening, the kid from Friday night called me back! He thanked me for talking with him on Friday. We talked for a few minutes and I encouraged him to read the Bible every day. I suggested starting with John and reading a paragraph or a chapter per day, then reading through the rest of the New Testament. I encouraged him that reading the Bible each day is a lot like eating.  Just as if we skip meals, skipping our time reading God’s word will not have us grow up healthy relating to God! He said he understood. I told him he is welcome to call back anytime.

Are tracts effective? Yes. I’d say so. Do you make regular use of Gospel tracts in your day to day life? If you’d like a free supply of 30 tracts per month, enroll in the Bezeugen Tract Club. If you need some ideas of how to hand tracts out check out the As You Go BLOG.

Do you have your own story of how your or someone you know was saved by a Gospel tract? Would you share it here? Please post a comment!