The State Fair of Texas is the largest state fair in the country drawing over 3.5 Million people per year. The fairgrounds is situated just outside of downtown Dallas. College football games, including the Oklahoma-Texas game, take place during the fair creating a great opportunity for sharing the Gospel. When I go tot he fair, I like to take in the pig races and get a Fletcher’s Corn Dog.
For twelve years, a group of businessmen have been renting a booth at the State Fair of Texas for the purpose of sharing the Gospel “mouth to ear” with people attending the fair. During the 23 days of the fair the booth is staffed with volunteers for 12 hours a day with the sole purpose to share the Gospel with people that stop by. I have been privileged to be able to participate in this outreach the last two years. In 2011 we had the booth for half a day. This year, I was the day leader on the last Saturday of the fair.
I partnered with the Gospel for Asia School of Discipleship. We have done a number of outreaches together. The SOD is a group of 26 students from around the country who are working at GFA and being discipled during an 11 month program. These “kids” are really on fire for our Lord!
In order to avoid traffic and parking we decided to ride the DART train from North Carrollton to Fair Park. This made the transportation very easy. And it was a real blessing at the end of the day to be able to just sit on the train to ride back to our cars and have some fellowship along the way.
While at the fair we were using the booth that used the intro line “Million Dollar 
Eye Test”. Essentially we were trying to get people to establish the value of their eyes was very high. And therefore be able to show them that they value their soul even more. The conversation would go something like this.
me: “would you like to take the million dollar eye test?”
them: “sure, what do I do”
We would keep the conversation really light hearted by saying things like “the use of your eyes is not required” or “it’s fun, it’s easy, no coupons required!” This was funny because at the fair you trade in your hard earned cash for coupons and then use the coupons to buy food from the vendors, ride rides, etc.
me: “for one million dollars would you give us your right eye? Before you answer let me explain that in this hypothetical example we have a surgical center right behind the booth. We can painlessly remove your eye and replace it with a glass eye. You’ll look the same in all your family photo’s. You just won’t look the same.”
them: “no way!”
me: “Oh, ok. Well, let’s sweeten the pot just a bit. You see actually we are looking for a matched pair of eyeballs. And therefore we are able to offer you one trillion dollars for both of your eyes. You could travel the world!”
them: “yeah, but I’d be blind. so no.”
At this point we could quote Jesus’ words to them “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world (or a trillion dollars) yet loose his very own soul?” We have established that their eyes are valuable and that their soul is worth even more.
I think the amazing thing about the booth is that it is not overtly Christian, yet, it draws people in with the lure of money. It is distinct from all the other booths because there is nothing for sale. Just friendly folks waiting to talk with them about the most important things of life. We had the opportunity to witness to hundreds of people. At one point I was witnessing to a Jewish woman, her mom and two sons. When they walked off, a Muslim man and his wife walked right up. It was kind of like the fish were just jumping into the boat.
As the day leader my role was really to make sure the booth ran smoothly. I 
tended to let the others do the witnessing. This was really great because then I had the chance to observe. Several times I saw people walking by with really interesting sayings on their t-shirts and I would go out into the crowd and ask them to come and talk with one of our folks. They gladly did. One shirt said “That <blank> good” and I was thinking we’ve got to talk to him. He actually came over and heard the message of salvation.
In front of the booth we positioned two and sometimes three people just handing out tracts. We had several tracts that we were approved to use including the Fried at the Fair and Ten Commandments tracts as well as million dollar bills. We must have handed out at least 7,000 tracts during the day.
This booth is a wonderful way to share the Gospel. If you have a fair near you then you might like to setup a booth and use it to share the Gospel. If you’d like to discuss how to do it you are welcome to contact me.
We had a great time at the booth. Great fellowship. Great opportunity to share the Gospel. When we left, one of the GFA students commented, “imagine the impact in heaven on us being out here today.” We all just kind of thought on that and were praising God that he let’s us be part of the work!
Here is what some of the GFA students had to say about the outreach:
Laurie – I had several good conversations, all different. 1 conversation went very well; spoke with a group of girls who were very receptive. It was God’s grace! I haven’t had much experience in conversations, but I was so encouraged to see that people are willing to talk about the good news.
Andy – So many people heard the Gospel, through conversation or literature. Many were encouraged to read the Bible and pray. Some who were not believers now want to trust in Jesus. Others who did not understand grace now have a better understanding. Others may not be able to get the question out of their mind “Where will you spend eternity.” Others will read the thousands of tracts. Who knows what the Lord will do? Great and mighty things that is for sure. The transition from the value of eyes to soul seemed to work really well. Everyone who participated was encouraged to see the Lord at work.
Christian – “It was a blessing. God spoke to even the people who rejected us. God was with us! He changes even the hearts of those who don’t seem open. So many got to hear God speak, and He will use the tracts that were handed out. I was encouraged to make sharing the Gospel more a part of my everyday life.”
Jordan – “The Lord really spoke to people. I had many good conversations. I was encouraged the Lord used me, when I did not feel that I knew what to say He gave me words.”
Hannah – It was a good day, had many conversations, praying for those who responded with hard hearts.
Sarrie – “It was great to have such a large crowd, and be able to hand out tracts to so many.”
Natalya – “Encouraged others to read the word, handed out lots of tracts.”
Nikki – “It was beautiful to see what Jesus does through weak people.”
We will be looking forward to going back in 2013!
You can view more pictures online. For more information on the outreach at the State Fair Gospel booth you can visit the Facebook page.
say? There is an acronym F.E.A.R. which we call False Expectations Appearing Real. This YouTube clip of Brad Stine sums up the idea pretty well. The idea here is that many people FEAR that if they were to hand someone a Gospel tract or tell them about Jesus that the person would freak out, get mad, throw a fit or something like that. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most people when we hand them a Gospel tract will simply say “thank you!”
